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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage with Supercritical CO2 Cycles and Solar Heat Input

Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES) is an energy storage device that uses grid electricity to drive a heat pump that generates hot and cold storage reservoirs. This thermal potential is later used to power a heat engine and return electricity to the grid. In this article, a PTES variant that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as the working fluid is introduced. sCO2-PTES cycles have higher work ratios and power densities than the systems based on ideal gases that have been investigated to date. Furthermore, sCO2- PTES cycles may achieve higher round-trip efficiencies for a given hot storage temperature (up to 78% at 560°C). The sensitivity of PTES cycles to loss factors such as isentropic efficiencies and temperature differences between the power cycle and storage fluid is investigated. A second concept whereby an sCO2- PTES cycle is integrated with concentrating solar power (CSP) is introduced. This concept ‘time-shifts’ the recompression of an sCO2 recompression cycle to a period of lower electricity prices and stores the heat. When solar heat is dispatched, the recompressor may be avoided as the required heat is obtained from storage, thereby leading to increased heat engine efficiencies. The net work output of this integrated system is 10-18% greater than the conventional recompression cycle. Combining PTES with a CSP power cycle is therefore shown to improve the dispatch of solar heat as well as providing electricity storage services.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Systems and methods for geothermal energy storage

A method and system may be used for storing energy in a geothermal system and recovering both the stored energy as well as thermal energy on demand. The geothermal system may include injection and production wells that are hydraulically coupled in a geothermal energy reservoir that behaves as a confined reservoir system with thermal energy transferring to fluid injected into the injection well and removed via the production well. Injection flow rate, injection pressure, production flow rate, production backpressure, or fluid residence time may be managed to control energy consumption or energy generation profiles of the geothermal system. During an energy storage mode, the injection flow rate exceeds the production flow rate thereby storing energy in the geothermal reservoir. During an energy recovery mode, production backpressure is reduced thereby releasing the stored energy and electricity is generated by removing the thermal energy from the fluid in a heat engine.

Norbeck, Jack↗
DOE OSTI2023

Low‐cost, Long Duration Electrical Energy Storage Using a CO 2 ‐based Pumped Thermal Energy Storage

The increasing deployment of non‐dispatchable, intermittent renewable energy generation sources to address climate change is placing pressure upon electrical grids’ ability to match supply with demand. The need to deploy large quantities of long duration energy storage assets is rapidly approaching, and innovative methods of energy storage that are low cost, efficient, safe and environmentally benign are needed urgently. CO 2 ‐based Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) is a low cost, efficient and environmentally safe energy storage technology. PTES uses an electrically‐driven CO 2 heat pump to charge thermal reservoirs that are later used as resources to generate electricity using a CO 2 heat engine. In this program, Echogen and collaborators refined the design of a utility‐scale CO 2 PTES system and demonstrated key technologies that will be required for successful commercial development in a laboratory‐scale system. Component and system‐level performance was evaluated over multiple charge/discharge cycles, with favorable results. Echogen is continuing to develop and commercialize this technology at utility scale.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Temporal performance indicators for an integrated pilot-scale membrane distillation-concentrated solar power/photovoltaic system

Management of concentrate streams in inland applications has uncertain long-term environmental impacts. This study investigates an intensified solar-energy capture desalination system that integrates membrane distillation (MD) with a hybrid concentrated solar power (CSP)/photovoltaic (PV) collector to realize self-sustained zero-waste discharge for effective management of concentrate streams in inland and off-grid applications. The demonstration-scale CSP/PV system can produce up to 178 kWh of thermal energy and 4 kWh of electrical energy per day. The thermal and electrical energy from the CSP/PV system is directly supplied to the air gap MD (AGMD) pilot-scale system producing up to 288 L of distilled water per day. Experiments were performed on the hybrid AGMD-CSP/PV system to evaluate system performance under various operating conditions including AGMD and CSP flow rates, CSP system pre-heating, and AGMD vacuum pressure. Experimental results indicate that doubling the AGMD flow rate results in a 119% increase in thermal energy utilization and a 71% increase in distillate production. Compared to the winter months, operating the system in summer months when direct normal irradiance (DNI) is highest results in nearly double the distillate production (88 L in winter and 168 L in summer) and nearly three times the amount of thermal energy consumption (15 kWh in winter and 43 kWh in summer). Operating with vacuum resulted in a 34% increase in distillate production and allowing the thermal storage reservoir to preheat in the winter resulted in a 61% increase in distillate production. Altogether, experimental results highlight the tradeoff between distillate production and thermal and electrical energy production and consumption under various environmental conditions and the potential for AGMD-CSP/PV to be a stand-alone desalination system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pumped Thermal Energy Storage With Liquid Storage

Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) uses electricity to power a heat pump; transferring heat from a cold space to a hot space forms a hot and a cold thermal reservoir, thereby storing energy. To discharge, the temperature difference between the two stores is used to drive a heat engine which generates electricity. In this chapter, PTES systems which store energy in liquids will be described. The chapter will concentrate on Joule-Brayton power cycles with molten salt storage. Part-load operation of Joule-Brayton PTES with liquid storage can be managed with "inventory control," and it is demonstrated that this control method leads to relatively good performance over a range of operating points.

Carnot batteries↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advanced Compressors for CO2-Based Power Cycles and Energy

Pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) is a cost-effective method for grid-scale, long-duration electrical energy storage (LDES). PTES uses a heat pump cycle to transfer thermal energy from a low temperature reservoir (LTR) to a high temperature reservoir (HTR), later using a heat engine cycle to reverse the process. A key component of the PTES system, the heat pump compressor, represents a significant driver to the cost, performance and operating characteristics of the PTES system. For grid-scale charging (>100 MW), traditional compressor scaling charts indicate that the operating conditions needed would be best served by a multistage axial compressor. While frame gas turbine compressors at these power ratings exist and operate at higher pressure ratios than needed for the CO2 PTES system, the inlet pressure and fluid density of this application exceed experience values. A conceptual design of a large-scale CO2 axial compressor was completed, including mean-line estimates of the compressor performance at full power conditions. The results of the conceptual design were used to refine the PTES cycle design, and updated operating conditions provided for further aero design optimization. A roughly one third scale of the first three stages of the 100 MW compressor was designed, built, and tested at relevant PTES charging conditions. Results of this test program are compared against high-resolution computational fluid dynamics models.

Compressor Heat↗
DOE OSTI2023

Modeling Tool Development and Validation for Solar Industry Process Heat Using Particle Thermal Energy Storage

U.S. industry sectors used 26.2 quadrillion Btu and accounted for 33% of total energy consumption in 2021 according to the Energy Information Agency. Industrial process heat accounts for 70% of industrial energy use with application temperatures ranging from 60 degrees -1100 degrees C. Industry processes, heavily relying on fossil fuels of cheap coal or natural gas, differ widely in operating conditions and load requirements which makes them difficult to standardize and imposes great challenges in decarbonization. Industry processes require reliable energy supply and vary widely in temperature ranges. Storing energy from renewable sources is necessary to improve reliability and to mitigate renewable intermittency when replacing carbon fuel-based heat supplies to achieve energy savings and reduce emissions. To this end, we have developed a particle-based thermal energy storage (TES) technology using low-cost and highly stable silica sand as a storage medium. The economic and performance-based analysis is key for renewable energy sources to reliably supply industry process heat and ultimately displace fossil fuels for decarbonization. The diversified industrial processes need case-by-case analysis and design. Therefore, an adaptive modeling tool is key for renewable power with energy storage to meet industry demands. Thus, a modeling tool to simulate a solar industry process heat system using the particle TES has been developed using the object-oriented equation-based language Modelica and the commercial platform of Modelon Impact. The Modelica-based software tool provides a general simulation environment for the design of reliable solar energy sources integrated with TES for various industrial process applications at different temperatures for economic competence with fossil fuels such as coal and natural gases. It uses both customized and standard component modeling modules in Modelon libraries for the flexibility to be adapted to a specific energy demand application. The particle TES system establishes a uniform energy supply platform with an efficient heat exchanger and particle thermal energy reservoir integrated with renewable powers. The particle TES system can provide a wide temperature range and can have a large storage temperature difference that increases storage energy density; therefore, it can be an adaptable energy storage system integrated with renewable power to supply 24/7 heat for industry decarbonization.

concentrated solar thermal↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-fluid renewable geo-energy systems and methods

A geo-energy production system and method extracts thermal energy from a reservoir formation, and stores either thermal waste heat or excess heat in a storage zone of the reservoir formation. A compressed fluid injection injects an unheated, compressed working fluid into the storage zone. A fluid injection well injects a working fluid laden with thermal waste heat or excess heat into the storage zone. The storage zone is located below a caprock layer and above a native brine zone of the reservoir formation and is partially circumscribed by a hot brine storage zone. The compressed working fluid assists with a withdrawal of pressurized brine residing below and/or to the sides of the storage zone. A compressed CO2, N2, or air production well helps to remove compressed working fluid from the storage zone for use in power production.

Buscheck, Thomas A.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermal storage system with coupled tanks

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for high-efficiency thermal storage with a fluid-filled “battery” tank positioned within a fluid-filled “reservoir” tank. Fluid loops couple the tanks to a heat pump and a building. The heat pump can charge the battery tank or deliver thermal energy (cold or heat) to a building, using the reservoir tank or ambient air as a thermal energy source. The battery tank can discharge energy to the building jointly with the heat pump or, at periods of peak electricity usage, with the heat pump switched off. Operating modes allow significant savings in electricity usage and mitigate the “duck curve.” Low duty cycle usage of the reservoir enables efficient underground thermal storage with less digging than conventional geothermal technologies. Additional efficiency is achieved with phase change materials installed inside a tank or in a tank wall, providing temperature regulation. Control methods are disclosed.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Earth Energy Balance Assessment at the 2022 BIPM-WMO Metrology for Climate Action Workshop

The BIPM and WMO hosted a five-day workshop in Sept. 2022 to assess the state of current metrology and identify future meteorological needs regarding climate change for the upcoming decade. A resulting broad policy-oriented workshop summary report, written by the workshop’s ~70 international organizers and reviewed by meeting attendees, identifies the current issues in each of nine high-level topic areas and provides recommendations to address them, listing specific needs, pathways, timelines, and responsible agencies or organizations for each. One prominent Topic within the workshop, “Earth Energy Balance,” was organized by the authors of this presentation and resulted in a section of the workshop summary report using the contributions from the topic’s several pre-recorded oral and poster presentations and the outcomes of two interactive real-time community-wide discussion sessions. The Earth-energy-balance topic issues centered on three areas: Radiometric energy measurements, including needed accuracies and stabilities and the use of SI-Traceable Satellites (SITSats), such as CLARREO and TRUTHS, to achieve them; improved on-orbit calibration sources, including the Sun and the Moon, thermal-infrared and UV sources, and space-flight blackbodies; and the four primary Earth-heat storage reservoirs of the oceans, land, permafrost, and cryosphere, giving an inventory of where and how much of the Earth’s energy is stored and how much uptake there is of the incoming energy. This presentation will summarize the results of the Earth Energy Balance topic from the 2022 BIPM-WMO Metrology for Climate Action Workshop.

earth↗
DOE OSTI2021

Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical Modelling of Stockton University Reservoir Cooling System, Large Scale Grid

Mesh, properties, initial conditions, injection/withdrawal rates for modeling thermal, hydrological, and mechanical effects of fluid injection to and withdrawal from ground for Stockton University reservoir cooling system (aquifer storage cooling system), Galloway, New Jersey, on large scale grid, with some results. First simulation of J.T. Smith, E. Sonnenthal, P. Dobson, P. Nico, and M. Worthington, 2021. Thermal-hydrological-mechanical modeling of Stockton University reservoir cooling system, Proceedings of the 46th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, SGP-TR-218, from which Figures 1-5 pertain.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical Modelling of Stockton University Reservoir Cooling System, Fine Scale Stress Test Modelling

Mesh, properties, initial conditions, injection/withdrawal rates for modelling thermal, hydrological, and mechanical effects of fluid injection to and withdrawal from ground for Stockton University reservoir cooling system (aquifer storage cooling system), Galloway, New Jersey, for unscheduled two hour injection at 133 % designed capacity, on fine scale grid, with some results. Second simulation of J.T. Smith, E. Sonnenthal, P. Dobson, P. Nico, and M. Worthington, 2021. Thermal-hydrological-mechanical modeling of Stockton University reservoir cooling system, Proceedings of the 46th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, SGP-TR-218, from which Figures 6-9, pertain.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

GEOS: A performance portable multi-physics simulation framework for subsurface applications

GEOS is a simulation framework focused on solving tightly coupled multi-physics problems with an initial emphasis on subsurface reservoir applications. Currently, GEOS supports capabilities for studying carbon sequestration, geothermal energy, hydrogen storage, and related subsurface applications. The unique aspect of GEOS that differentiates it from existing reservoir simulators is the ability to simulate tightly coupled compositional flow, poromechanics, fault slip, fracture propagation, and thermal effects, etc. Extensive documentation is available on the GEOS documentation pages (GEOS Documentation, 2024). Note that GEOS, as presented here, is a complete rewrite of the previous incarnation of the GEOS referred to in (Settgast et al., 2017).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Oilwell Conversion (Well API 121913310501) to Geothermal Heat Storage Well for Flexible Electricity Storage

Geothermal growth is limited by a lack of geographically dispersed high-temperature thermal resources and high initial upfront investment in characterization and well construction. This project intended to address the challenges of energy supply intermittency and enhance grid resilience, reliability, and energy security by storing energy provided from currently available renewable resources in the subsurface to harvest it a later time during at-peak energy demand. This project intended to improve geothermal adoption, reduce initial project risk, and improve price competitiveness through utilizing existing oil and gas infrastructure such as non-productive wells, non-economic fields, dry holes, and orphaned wells. The project also intended to address the lack of geographically dispersed thermal resources and enhance grid resilience, reliability, and energy security by introducing an economical method for storing energy from currently available renewable resources in the subsurface for usage during at-peak energy demand. During this research, the project furthered the understanding of the feasibility of utilizing abandoned oil and gas wells as geothermal heat storage wells. The project team investigated the heat storage and hydrogeological characteristics of subsurface reservoirs in the Illinois Basin to evaluate their response to heat injection for determining the evolution of temperature profiles and heat losses over time using existing and available data sets. The project team then performed modeling and simulation to evaluate the heat losses of returning fluids during heat extraction. The outputs were used to select an optimal candidate reservoir and location in Southern Illinois. The team designed and performed a small-scale field test in an existing oil well to refine the model and to demonstrate the permitting and regulatory pathways necessary for the conversion of oil and gas assets to geothermal use. The field test also serves as a proof of concept and can guide the procedures for future research and implementation. Additionally, the project team, conducted initial market research and customer discovery to develop a go to market strategy for an Advanced Geothermal Energy Storage (AGES) system. The project team in this research also identified the parameters to be refined in future research, to improve the current go to market strategy economic model. To this end several subject matter experts were also identified to assist in future research with geothermal infrastructure setup, energy storage policy and law, energy storage market demand, potential siting based on demand etc. Future research will involve further sophistication of the site commercial modeling, implementing a larger-scale test, and further refinement of the thermodynamic modeling/simulation process. The output will be lifecycle costs and economics suitable for comparison to alternative approaches from a validated full-scale demonstration for venture capital investment into this technology. The project successfully demonstrated the ability to leverage existing oilfield infrastructure, permits, and land access and leasing agreements, to enable geothermal storage projects to come online faster and cheaper than a greenfield development could. This technology could allow for greater energy independence and security through long-term energy storage solutions. The longer duration allows for greater storage for renewables currently limited by hours-long storage durations of lithium-ion. The AGES system would support the growth of renewable energy farms, and provide greater opportunities for a cleaner energy infrastructure.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Design of a Multiphase CO2 Turbine Test Facility

As the energy market continues to evolve with increased renewables, such as solar and wind energy, the need to balance energy demand with its availability has become increasingly more challenging. The country’s aggressive decarbonization goals in the upcoming decades will increase renewable energy market penetration, thus exacerbating the disparity between energy demand and renewable resource availability. Long-duration energy storage technologies, such as pumped thermal energy storage (PTES), are potential solutions to this challenge with high potential round-trip efficiency (RTE), no geological or geographical constraints, and low safety risks. The charge mode of a PTES system operates a heat pump cycle, converting input power to thermal energy in hot and cold reservoirs. Fundamentally, heat pumps are commonly used in daily life, but the operating conditions required by high RTE PTES systems are outside the design experience of these systems. The low-pressure side of the cycle for a supercritical CO2 (sCO2) PTES operates just above the vapor-dome and potentially drives the turbine to expand into the dome, resulting in multiphase operation in the rear stages of the turbine. This paper presents the design of the test facility for an advanced multiphase-tolerant sCO2 turbine for the heat pump of a PTES system. Heat rejection and pressure loss estimations for the multiphase sections of the test loop presented unforeseen challenges.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Mass spectral molecular mapping shows benefits of thermal evaporation in prelithiated silicon-based electrodes

Silicon based composites have become increasingly popular as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries due to their large storage capacity and potential ability to generate batteries with energy densities greater than 350 Wh kg −1 . These anodes often see reduced initial columbic efficiency (ICE) due to disruptive volume expansionup to 300% and continuous solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer formation. Prelithiation, where an excess reservoir of Li is added to the electrode to compensate for irreversible SEI formation losses during their sample preparation, has proven to solve the issue of immediate capacity loss. Thermal evaporation is a prelithiation technique with limited studies on its effectiveness. In this study, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is used to highlight the benefits of prelithiation via thermal evaporation. ToF-SIMS provides chemical mapping and spatial information in 2D and 3D visualizing the deposition of lithium, identifying Li x Si y alloy and Li x Si y O z silicate formation, and the distribution of lithium passivation into the electrodes. Passivation under different atmospheric conditions, such as inert Argon (Ar) and Ar/ carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), highlights the impact of the environment on the passivation effectiveness and formation of Li x Si y alloy and Li x Si y O z silicate. The ToF-SIMS molecular imaging and depth profiling results indicate that prelithiation via thermal evaporation effectively distributes lithium throughout the depth profile thickness of several hundred nanometers. It induces a greater degree of Li x Si y O z silicate formation over Li x Si y alloy. Our ToF-SIMS characterization results show the effectiveness of thermal evaporation in producing a more stable electrode and an electrode with an effective lithium reserve that can preserve its capacity.

Parker, Gabriel D. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Isothermal Versus Sensible Cold Storage: A Model-Based Performance Comparison for Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage

Pumped-thermal energy storage (PTES) systems consume and produce electrical energy using thermal storage media as an intermediate stage. PTES lends itself to long-duration energy storage to facilitate high penetration of intermittent electricity generation. This study presents a model-based comparison of two thermal storage types within a PTES system: a conventional, single-phase, stratified water-glycol sensible storage system (SGS), and an ideal isothermal, two-phase heat exchanger that freezes a water reservoir (isothermal heat exchanger (IHEX)). The SGS thermal storage capacity is based on the liquid’s sensible heat change with temperature, whereas the capacity of the IHEX is based on the latent heat of isothermally freezing and melting water. The idealized IHEX modeled here undergoes steady-state melting and freezing (in contrast to transient rates, as observed with ice-on-coil storage). A computational model of a complete PTES system is presented and used to evaluate the PTES system-level performance with each type of cold storage. Compared to SGS-based PTES, under nominal operating conditions, the IHEX-based PTES increased electrical round-trip efficiency from 61% to 82% and increased energy density from 1.13 to 8.09 kWh/m 3 In conclusion, the performance of the PTES configured with IHEX storage was also analyzed under varying operating parameters.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗