Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air

As renewable electricity generation capacity increases, energy storage will be required at larger scales. Compressed air energy storage at large scales, with effective management of heat, is recognised to have potential to provide affordable grid-scale energy storage. Where suitable geologies are un...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kantharaj, Bharath, Garvey, Seamus D., Pimm, Andrew James
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45064/
_version_ 1848797061041881088
author Kantharaj, Bharath
Garvey, Seamus D.
Pimm, Andrew James
author_facet Kantharaj, Bharath
Garvey, Seamus D.
Pimm, Andrew James
author_sort Kantharaj, Bharath
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description As renewable electricity generation capacity increases, energy storage will be required at larger scales. Compressed air energy storage at large scales, with effective management of heat, is recognised to have potential to provide affordable grid-scale energy storage. Where suitable geologies are unavailable, compressed air could be stored in pressurised steel tanks above ground, but this would incur significant storage costs. Liquid air energy storage, on the other hand, does not need a pressurised storage vessel, can be located almost anywhere, and has a relatively large volumetric exergy density at ambient pressure. However, it has lower roundtrip efficiency than compressed air energy storage technologies. This paper analyses a hybrid energy store consisting of a compressed air store at ambient temperature, and a liquid air store at ambient pressure. Thermodynamic analyses are then carried out for the conversions from compressed air to liquid air (forward process) and from liquid air to compressed air (reverse process), with notional heat pump and heat engine systems, respectively. Preliminary results indicate that provided the heat pump/heat engine systems are highly efficient, a roundtrip efficiency of 53% can be obtained. Immediate future work will involve the detailed analysis of heat pump and heat engine systems, and the economics of the hybrid energy store.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:57:53Z
format Article
id nottingham-45064
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:57:53Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-450642020-05-04T17:14:06Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45064/ Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air Kantharaj, Bharath Garvey, Seamus D. Pimm, Andrew James As renewable electricity generation capacity increases, energy storage will be required at larger scales. Compressed air energy storage at large scales, with effective management of heat, is recognised to have potential to provide affordable grid-scale energy storage. Where suitable geologies are unavailable, compressed air could be stored in pressurised steel tanks above ground, but this would incur significant storage costs. Liquid air energy storage, on the other hand, does not need a pressurised storage vessel, can be located almost anywhere, and has a relatively large volumetric exergy density at ambient pressure. However, it has lower roundtrip efficiency than compressed air energy storage technologies. This paper analyses a hybrid energy store consisting of a compressed air store at ambient temperature, and a liquid air store at ambient pressure. Thermodynamic analyses are then carried out for the conversions from compressed air to liquid air (forward process) and from liquid air to compressed air (reverse process), with notional heat pump and heat engine systems, respectively. Preliminary results indicate that provided the heat pump/heat engine systems are highly efficient, a roundtrip efficiency of 53% can be obtained. Immediate future work will involve the detailed analysis of heat pump and heat engine systems, and the economics of the hybrid energy store. Elsevier 2015-09-01 Article PeerReviewed Kantharaj, Bharath, Garvey, Seamus D. and Pimm, Andrew James (2015) Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 11 . pp. 159-164. ISSN 2213-1388 Compressed air energy storage Liquid air energy storage Exergy http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213138814000952 doi:10.1016/j.seta.2014.11.002 doi:10.1016/j.seta.2014.11.002
spellingShingle Compressed air energy storage
Liquid air energy storage
Exergy
Kantharaj, Bharath
Garvey, Seamus D.
Pimm, Andrew James
Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title_full Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title_fullStr Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title_full_unstemmed Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title_short Thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
title_sort thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid energy storage system based on compressed air and liquid air
topic Compressed air energy storage
Liquid air energy storage
Exergy
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45064/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45064/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45064/