Thermodynamic Analysis of Three Compressed Air Energy Storage Systems: Conventional, Adiabatic, and Hydrogen-Fueled

Hossein Safaei and Michael J. Aziz
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Hossein Safaei: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Michael J. Aziz: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-31

Abstract: We present analyses of three families of compressed air energy storage (CAES) systems: conventional CAES, in which the heat released during air compression is not stored and natural gas is combusted to provide heat during discharge; adiabatic CAES, in which the compression heat is stored; and CAES in which the compression heat is used to assist water electrolysis for hydrogen storage. The latter two methods involve no fossil fuel combustion. We modeled both a low-temperature and a high-temperature electrolysis process for hydrogen production. Adiabatic CAES (A-CAES) with physical storage of heat is the most efficient option with an exergy efficiency of 69.5% for energy storage. The exergy efficiency of the conventional CAES system is estimated to be 54.3%. Both high-temperature and low-temperature electrolysis CAES systems result in similar exergy efficiencies (35.6% and 34.2%), partly due to low efficiency of the electrolyzer cell. CAES with high-temperature electrolysis has the highest energy storage density (7.9 kWh per m 3 of air storage volume), followed by A-CAES (5.2 kWh/m 3 ). Conventional CAES and CAES with low-temperature electrolysis have similar energy densities of 3.1 kWh/m 3 .

Keywords: compressed air energy storage (CAES); adiabatic CAES; high temperature electrolysis; hydrogen storage; thermodynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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