Thermal Energy Storage and Environmental Impact

2010 ◽  
pp. 191-209 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage

scholarly journals Fibre-Reinforced Geopolymer Concretes for Sensible Heat Thermal Energy Storage: Simulations and Environmental Impact

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 414
Author(s):  
Domenico Frattini ◽  
Alessio Occhicone ◽  
Claudio Ferone ◽  
Raffaele Cioffi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Fibre Reinforcement ◽  
Sensible Heat

Power plants based on solar energy are spreading to accomplish the incoming green energy transition. Besides, affordable high-temperature sensible heat thermal energy storage (SHTES) is required. In this work, the temperature distribution and thermal performance of novel solid media for SHTES are investigated by finite element method (FEM) modelling. A geopolymer, with/without fibre reinforcement, is simulated during a transient charging/discharging cycle. A life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis is also carried out to investigate the environmental impact and sustainability of the proposed materials, analysing the embodied energy, the transport, and the production process. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach, taking into account thermal/environmental performance, is used to select the most suitable material. The results show that the localized reinforcement with fibres increases thermal storage performance, depending on the type of fibre, creating curvatures in the temperature profile and accelerating the charge/discharge. High-strength, high-conductivity carbon fibres performed well, and the simulation approach can be applied to any fibre arrangement/material. On the contrary, the benefit of the fibres is not straightforward according to the three different scenarios developed for the LCA and MCDM analyses, due to the high impact of the fibre production processes. More investigations are needed to balance and optimize the coupling of the fibre material and the solid medium to obtain high thermal performance and low impacts.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Plant in Tower Configuration with and without Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3672
Author(s):  
Gemma Gasa ◽  
Anton Lopez-Roman ◽  
Cristina Prieto ◽  
Luisa F. Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Molten Salts ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Concentrating Solar Power ◽  
The Impact

Despite the big deployment of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, their environmental evaluation is still a pending issue. In this paper, a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) of a CSP tower plant with molten salts storage in a baseload configuration is carried out and compared with a reference CSP plant without storage. Results show that the plant with storage has a lower environmental impact due to the lower operational impact. The dependence on grid electricity in a CSP tower plant without storage increases its operation stage impact. The impact of the manufacturing and disposal stage is similar in both plants. When analyzed in detail, the solar field system and the thermal energy storage (TES) and heat transfer fluid (HTF) systems are the ones with higher impact. Within the storage system, the molten salts are those with higher impact. Therefore, in this study the impact of the origin of the salts is evaluated, showing that when the salts come from mines their impact is lower than when they are synthetized. Results show that storage is a key element for CSP plants not only to ensure dispatchability but also to reduce their environmental impact.

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