Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HERCULES (HIGH-TEMPERATURE THERMOCHEMICAL HEAT STORAGE POWERED BY RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY FOR INDUSTRIAL HEATING APPLICATIONS)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30
Industrial processes in the EU released 351 Mtons CO2e in 2020, 8% less than in 2019. In many cases, continuous, high-temperature heat is needed for these processes, and no viable decarbonization solution exists today.
HERCULES introduces a novel breakthrough approach towards thermal energy storage of surplus renewable energy via a hybrid thermochemical/sensible heat storage with the aid of porous media made of refractory redox metal oxides and electrically powered heating elements. The heating elements use surplus/cheap renewable electricity (e.g. from PVs, wind, or other sources) to charge the metal oxide-based storage block by heating it to the metal oxide reduction temperature (i.e. charging/energy storage step) and subsequently (i.e. upon demand) the fully charged system transfers its energy to a controlled airflow that passes through the porous oxide block which initiated the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide. It is an exothermic process thus a hot air stream is produced during this step which can be used to provide exploitable heat for industrial processes. The proposed research will be conducted by an interdisciplinary consortium constituting leading research centers, universities, innovative SMEs, and large enterprises including ancillary service providers and technology end-users.
HERCULES introduces a novel breakthrough approach towards thermal energy storage of surplus renewable energy via a hybrid thermochemical/sensible heat storage with the aid of porous media made of refractory redox metal oxides and electrically powered heating elements. The heating elements use surplus/cheap renewable electricity (e.g. from PVs, wind, or other sources) to charge the metal oxide-based storage block by heating it to the metal oxide reduction temperature (i.e. charging/energy storage step) and subsequently (i.e. upon demand) the fully charged system transfers its energy to a controlled airflow that passes through the porous oxide block which initiated the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide. It is an exothermic process thus a hot air stream is produced during this step which can be used to provide exploitable heat for industrial processes. The proposed research will be conducted by an interdisciplinary consortium constituting leading research centers, universities, innovative SMEs, and large enterprises including ancillary service providers and technology end-users.
• A short list of redox compositions suitable for further testing was determined using computational tools developed in the project.
• Synthesized and tested a redox material (CS10MO) that has > 300 kWh/m3 energy density thus fulfilling the material-related project target.
• Porous structured ceramic honeycombs and foams of CS10MO were synthesized and tested for cyclic stability.
• Numerical models coupling heat transfer, fluid flow, and chemical kinetics were developed to support the design of the thermochemical storage module.
• Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies are ongoing to determine the climate change and resource utilization impact of key materials (storage container, piping, reactive material, and insulation) to be used in the HERCULES system.
• A detailed techno-economic analysis has also started to understand the impact of the cost of various components and input parameters on the OPEX and CAPEX of the system.
• Synthesized and tested a redox material (CS10MO) that has > 300 kWh/m3 energy density thus fulfilling the material-related project target.
• Porous structured ceramic honeycombs and foams of CS10MO were synthesized and tested for cyclic stability.
• Numerical models coupling heat transfer, fluid flow, and chemical kinetics were developed to support the design of the thermochemical storage module.
• Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies are ongoing to determine the climate change and resource utilization impact of key materials (storage container, piping, reactive material, and insulation) to be used in the HERCULES system.
• A detailed techno-economic analysis has also started to understand the impact of the cost of various components and input parameters on the OPEX and CAPEX of the system.
• The synthesized redox material CS10MO has shown good cyclability for 214 cycles and exhibited an energy density (sensible + chemical) of 314 kWh/m3 which is higher than the energy density of state-of-art molten salt-based systems which are in the order 200 kWh/m3.
• Several foam and honeycomb structures out of CS10MO were fabricated and tested for their cycle (> 200) stability between 300 and 1100 oC temperature range. They have shown no evidence of any appreciable dimension change or mechanical degradation. To the best of the partners’ knowledge, porous structures of various geometries (honeycombs and foams) were manufactured entirely from perovskites for the first time ever. The lab-scale process has been completed successfully and the consortium is currently in the process of preparing scaled-up structures.
• Several foam and honeycomb structures out of CS10MO were fabricated and tested for their cycle (> 200) stability between 300 and 1100 oC temperature range. They have shown no evidence of any appreciable dimension change or mechanical degradation. To the best of the partners’ knowledge, porous structures of various geometries (honeycombs and foams) were manufactured entirely from perovskites for the first time ever. The lab-scale process has been completed successfully and the consortium is currently in the process of preparing scaled-up structures.