Experimental Study on a Solid-Storage Steam Generation System for Cascaded Thermal Energy Utilization

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jes.202602217

Author(s)

Yong Sun, Meiqi Lv, Sai Liu, Chunhui Yang, Xinyu Yao

Affiliation(s)

Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China

Abstract

With the continuous and ongoing advancement of the national "dual carbon" goals, it has become an imperative task to accelerate the reform and adjustment of the energy structure. To achieve these "dual carbon" goals, we must drive the peaking of coal and oil consumption, vigorously develop non-fossil energy sources, and continuously increase the proportion of renewable energy in the overall energy structure. Traditional steam production methods, which have long been used in industrial production, are increasingly struggling to adapt to the current requirements of energy transition and environmental protection. Against this background, a solid thermal storage steam production system was proposed as an alternative solution; however, the existing solid thermal storage steam production systems still have obvious defects, mainly manifested in high return air temperatures and heat accumulation in the storage media, which ultimately lead to serious energy waste. To solve the problems of high return air temperatures and heat accumulation in the storage media of existing solid thermal storage steam production systems, this study proposes a solid thermal storage steam generation system based on cascaded thermal energy utilization. Specifically, this newly proposed system takes full advantage of the high-temperature thermal energy from the recirculated air to generate steam, and at the same time, it utilizes the low-temperature thermal energy of the recirculated air to preheat the feedwater. In this way, the system not only realizes the cascaded utilization of the recirculated air’s thermal energy, but also effectively improves the overall efficiency of the system and the heat utilization rates, and also successfully addresses the heat accumulation problems that exist in the storage media of traditional systems. The key part of the cascaded thermal energy utilization strategy adopted by this system is to install a waste heat recovery device in the system’s return air duct. In order to verify whether this strategy is effective and to study how it affects various parameters of the system, the research team built a special test bench for this solid thermal storage steam generation system. After carrying out a series of tests on this test bench and conducting detailed data analysis, the test results show that turning on the waste heat recovery device can significantly improve the thermal performance of the system. In detail, after the waste heat recovery device is activated, the return air temperature of the system can drop by as much as 28.7℃. When the system is operating under the condition of 0.5 MPa, the steam generation duration of the system can be extended by 29 to 42 minutes, and the usable temperature range of the heat storage medium can be increased by 43 to 54℃. These test results further confirm that activating the waste heat recovery device can effectively improve the system efficiency and the thermal utilization rate of the heat storage medium. Specifically, under the 0.5 MPa operating condition, the system efficiency is increased by 8.88%, and the thermal utilization rate of the heat storage medium is increased by 7.13%. Therefore, the installation of a waste heat recovery device in the return air duct of the solid thermal storage steam generation system can effectively alleviate the problem of heat accumulation in the heat storage medium, significantly improve the system efficiency and the thermal utilization rate of the heat storage medium, and ultimately achieve cascaded heat utilization. This research result can provide a valuable reference for the practical application and promotion of the solid thermal storage steam generation system based on cascaded thermal energy utilization in industrial production.

Keywords

Cascaded Thermal Energy Utilization; Thermal Storage Medium Heat Utilization Rate; Solid Thermal Storage; Steam Generator

References

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