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Discharging Behavior of a Fixed-Bed Thermochemical Reactor under Different Charging Conditions: Modelling and Experimental Validation

Author

Listed:
  • Chengcheng Wang

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Hongkun Ma

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Abdalqader Ahmad

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Hui Yang

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Mingxi Ji

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Boyang Zou

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Binjian Nie

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
    Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK)

  • Jie Chen

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Lige Tong

    (Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

  • Li Wang

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Yulong Ding

    (School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
    Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK)

Abstract

Thermochemical heat storage has attracted significant attention in recent years due to potential advantages associated with very high-energy density at the material scale and its suitability for long-duration energy storage because of almost zero loss during storage. Despite the potential, thermochemical heat storage technologies are still in the early stage of development and little has been reported on thermochemical reactors. In this paper, our recent work on the charging and discharging behavior of a fixed-bed thermochemical reactor is reported. Silica gels were used as the sorbent for the experimental work. An effective model was established to numerically study the effect of different charging conditions on the discharging behavior of the reactor, which was found to have a maximum deviation of 10.08% in terms of the root mean square error compared with the experimental results. The experimentally validated modelling also showed that the discharging temperature lift increased by 5.84 times by changing the flow direction of the air in the discharging process when the charging level was at 20%. At a charging termination temperature of 51.25 °C, the maximum discharging temperature was increased by 2.35 °C by reducing the charging flow velocity from 0.64 m/s to 0.21 m/s. An increase in the charging temperature and a decrease in the air humidity increased the maximum discharging outlet temperature lift by 3.37 and 1.89 times, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Chengcheng Wang & Hongkun Ma & Abdalqader Ahmad & Hui Yang & Mingxi Ji & Boyang Zou & Binjian Nie & Jie Chen & Lige Tong & Li Wang & Yulong Ding, 2022. "Discharging Behavior of a Fixed-Bed Thermochemical Reactor under Different Charging Conditions: Modelling and Experimental Validation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:22:p:8377-:d:967821
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    References listed on IDEAS

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