Búsqueda de nuevos materiales y optimización de los tiempos de residencia en la tecnología "Calcium-Looping" aplicada al almacenamiento termoquímico de energía

Abstract

To overcome the limitations due to the intrinsic intermittency of some renewable energies, such as solar, large-scale energy storage systems need to be developed. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) arises as a potential option that allows for the integration of energy storage technologies. Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) based on Calcium-Looping process (CaL) stands out as an efficient and promising technology for reducing the cost of energy storage and promoting the massive development of CSP plants. It is well known that the harsh conditions used in the CaL scheme for TCES, which involve high temperatures and high CO2 concentration environments, hinders strongly the multicyclic activity performance of the Ca-based natural materials employed in the process. The present work explores the impact that different residence times in the carbonator/calciner reactors have on the multicyclic performance of a widely available, cheap and nontoxic CaO precursor, namely limestone. The microstructure of the samples cycled under different residence times was studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The suitability of steel slags as CaO precursors is also assessed in this work. Remarkably, a reduction in the amount of aluminium and silicon present in the CaO precursorprepared from steel slags yields an enhancement of the multicyclic activity behavior