Numerical study of the deep removal of R134a from non-condensable gas mixture by cryogenic condensation and de-sublimation

Nowadays,the limits on greenhouse gas emissions are becoming increasingly stringent.In present research,a two-dimensional numerical model was established to simulate the deep removal of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane(R134a)from the non-condensable gas(NCG)mixture by cryogenic condensation and de-sublimation.The wall condensation method was compiled into the Fluent software to calculate the condensation of R134a from the gas mixture.Besides,the saturated thermodynamic properties of R134a under its triple point were extrapolated by the equation of state.The simulation of the steam condensation with NCG was conducted to verify the validity of the model,the results matched well with the experimental data.Subsequently,the condensation characteristics of R134a with NCG and the thermodynamic parameters affecting condensation were studied.The results show that the section with relatively higher removal efficiency is usually near the inlet.The cold wall temperature has a great influence on the R134a removal performance,e.g.,a 15 K reduction of the wall temperature brings a reduction in the outlet R134a molar fraction by 85.43%.The effect of changing mass flow rate on R134a removal is mainly reflected at the outlet,where an increase in mass flow rate of 12.6% can aggravate the outlet molar fraction to 210.3% of the original.The research can provide a valuable reference for the simulation of the deep removal of various low-concentration gas using condensation and de-sublimation methods.

Thermodynamic performance of a cryogenic energy storage system based on natural gas liquefaction

Cryogenic energy storage(CES)is a viable method for grid-scale electrical energy storage.Considering the high energy density and mature application of liquefied natural gas(LNG),we proposed an LNG cryogenic energy storage(LNGES)system.A steady-state process model of the LNGES system was established using Aspen HYSYS.The effects of the natural gas composition and key operating parameters such as the charging pressure,discharging pressure,throttling temperature,and liquid storage pressure on the system performance were investigated.A multi-parameter genetic algorithm model built using the MATLAB software was used to optimize the LNGES system to optimize the round-trip efficiency(RTE).Then,an exergy analysis of the optimal configuration was conducted.The results suggested that the LNGES system could achieve optimal RTE and exergy efficiency values of 60.14%and 71.64%,respectively.Exergy destruction mainly occurred during the compression,throttling,expansion,and heat exchange.The proposed LNGES system could be a promising candidate for the large-scale application of CES technology in power grids and gas networks.

Simulation and analysis of a peak regulation gas power plant with advanced energy storage and cryogenic CO_(2) capture

Flexible gas power plants are subject to energy storage,peak regulations,and greenhouse gas emissions.This study proposes an integrated power generation system that combines liquid air energy storage(LAES),liquefied natural gas(LNG)cold energy utilization,gas power systems,and CO_(2) capture and storage(CCS)technologies,named the LAES-LNG-CCS system.The off-peak electricity can be stored in liquid air.During the peak period,air and gas turbines generate supplementary electricity.Both LNG chemical energy and cold energy were considered:the former was used for gas power plants,and the latter was used for LAES regasification and CCS processes.Based on the thermodynamic analysis,we evaluated the effects of the recovery pressure,CCS pressure,and combustion temperature on the system power consumption and efficiency.The results demonstrated that the system recovery pressure,CCS pressure,and combustion temperature had the greatest effects on system power generation.Round-trip efficiency(RTE)was significantly affected by combustion temperature.The largest exergy loss occurred in the gas power plant.The optimal system operating ranges of the system recovery pressure,CCS pressure,and combustion temperature were 6−10 MPa,0.53−0.8 MPa,and 1,503−1,773 K,where the RTEs and𝜂Ex,RS reached 55%−58.98%and 74.6%−76%,respectively.The proposed system can simultaneously achieve the synergistic functions of large-scale energy storage,multilevel energy utilization,peak regulation,and carbon emission reduction.It can also be widely used in advanced distributed energy storage applications in the future.

Comparative study on the globally optimal performance of cryogenic energy storage systems with different working media

Cryogenic energy storage(CES)has garnered attention as a large-scale electric energy storage technology for the storage and regulation of intermittent renewable electric energy in power networks.Nitrogen and argon can be found in the air,whereas methane is the primary component of natural gas,an important clean energy resource.Most research on CES focuses on liquid air energy storage(LAES),with its typical round-trip efficiency(RTE)being approximately 50%(theoretical).This study aims to explore the feasibility of using different gases as working media in CES systems,and consequently,to achieve a high system efficiency by constructing four steady-state process models for the CES systems with air,nitrogen,argon,and methane as working media using Aspen HYSYS.A combined single-parameter analysis and multi-parameter global optimization method was used for system optimization.Further,a group of key independent variables were analysed carefully to determine their reasonable ranges to achieve the ideal system performance,that is,RTE and liquefaction ratio through a single-parameter analysis.Consequently,a multi-parameter genetic algorithm was adopted to globally optimize the CES systems with different working media,and the energy and exergy analyses were conducted for the CES systems under their optimal conditions.The results indicated the high cycle efficiency of methane and a low irreversible loss in the liquefaction cycle.Moreover,the Joule-Thomson valve inlet temperature and charging and discharging pressures considerably affected the system performance.However,exergy loss in the CES system occurred primarily in the compressor,turbine,and liquefaction processes.The maximum optimal RTE of 55.84%was achieved in the liquid methane energy storage(LMES)system.Therefore,the LMES system is expected to exhibit potential for application in the CES technology to realize the integration of natural gas pipelines with renewable power grids on a large scale.Moreover,the results of study have important theoretical significance for the innovation of the CES technology.

An active pipe-embedded building envelope for utilizing low-grade energy sources

An active pipe-embedded building envelope,which is an external wall or roof with pipes embedded inside,was presented.This structure may utilize the circulating water in the pipe to transfer heat or coolth inside directly.This kind of structure is named "active pipe-embedded building envelope" due to dealing with the thermal energy actively inside the structure mass by circulating water.This structure not only deals with thermal energy before the external disturbance becomes cooling/heating load by using the circulating water,but also may use low-grade energy sources such as evaporative cooling,solar energy,and geothermal energy.In the meantime,this structure can also improve the indoor thermal comfort by tempering the internal wall surface temperature variation due to the thermal removal in the mass.This work further presents the thermal performance of this structure under a typical hot summer weather condition by comparing it with that of the conventional external wall/roof with numerical simulation.The results show that this pipe-embedded structure may reduce the external heat transfer significantly and reduce the internal wall surface temperature for improving thermal comfort.This work also presents the effects of the water temperature and the pipe spacing on the heat transfer of this structure.The internal surface heat transfer may reduce by about 2.6 W/m2 when the water temperature reduces by 1 ℃ as far as a brick wall with pipes embedded inside is concerned.When the pipe spacing reduces by 50 mm,the internal wall surface heat flux can also reduce by about 2.3 W/m2.

Performance Analysis of an Ejector Enhanced Two-Stage Auto-Cascade Refrigeration Cycle for Low Temperature Freezer

In this paper,an ejector enhanced two-stage auto-cascade refrigeration cycle(EARC)using ternary mixture R600a/R32/R1150 is proposed for application of-80℃freezing.In EARC cycle,an ejector was employed to recover the expansion work in the throttling processes and lifted the suction pressure of the compressor.The performances of the ejector enhanced two-stage auto-cascade refrigeration cycle and conventional auto-cascade refrigeration cycle(CARC)were compared using thermodynamic analysis methods.The influences of the important operation parameters including mass fraction ratio of the mixture,fluid quality at the second separator inlet,condensation temperature,evaporation temperature,and expansion ratio of expansion valve on the performances of EARC cycle were discussed in detail.The results indicate that ternary mixture R600a/R32/R1150 has the optimal mass fraction ratio of 0.45/0.2/0.35 with respect to the maximum COP.The EARC cycle yields higher performance than the CARC cycle in terms of COP,exergy efficiency and volumetric refrigeration capacity.And 4.9%-36.5%improvement in COP and 6.9%-34.3%higher exergy efficiency could be obtained in EARC cycle comparing with CARC cycle.The finding of this study suggests that the EARC cycle has a promising application potential for low temperature freezing.

Theoretical Performance Analysis of an Ejector Enhanced High-Temperature Heat Pump with Dual-Pressure Condensation and Evaporation

In this paper,an ejector enhanced high-temperature heat pump with dual-pressure condensation and evaporation is proposed to improve the system performance.Theoretical analyses of the system operation characteristics are conducted using energetic and exergetic methods.The performance comparisons among the basic cycle,parallel compression cycle,and ejector enhanced cycle are conducted with six different refrigerants,including R245fa,R600a,R1234ze(Z),R1336mzz(Z),R1224yd(Z),and R1233zd(E).The results demonstrate that environmentally-friendly refrigerant R1234ze(Z)would be a promising alternative refrigerant.Compared with the basic cycle and parallel compression cycle at selected operation conditions,29.5%and 12.6%improvements in COP,and 16.7%and 11.1%higher system exergy efficiency are achieved in the ejector enhanced cycle on average.The volumetric heating capacity of the ejector enhanced cycle is increased by 15.7%–21.7%.The ejector enhanced cycle outperforms the other two cycles in high-temperature heat pump applications at the large temperature lift and temperature rise in the heat sink.The assessment offers an option to improve the energy utilization efficiency of the high-temperature heat pumps.

Combining magnetocaloric and elastocaloric effects in a Ni45Co5Mn37In13 alloy

1.Introduction Refrigeration plays an essential role in nowadays society.However,conventional refrigeration based on vapor compression cooling shows high energy consumption,complicated structure and even environmental pollution.Searching for an environmentalfriendly and energy-saving refrigeration technology has become a matter of concern[1,2].In the past few decades,the solid-state refrigeration technologies mainly represented by magnetocaloric effect(MCE),electrocaloric effect(ECE)and elastocaloric effect(e CE)have been regarded as promising candidate to replace traditional vapor compression refrigeration technology owing to environmental friendliness and high efficiency[1-9].

A fully solid-state cold thermal energy storage device for car seats using shape-memory alloys

Thermal energy storage has been a pivotal technology to fill the gap between energy demands and energy supplies.As a solid-solid phase change material,shape-memory alloys(SMAs)have the inherent advantages of leakage free,no encapsulation,negligible volume variation,as well as superior energy storage properties such as high thermal conductivity(compared with ice and paraffin)and volumetric energy density,making them excellent thermal energy storage materials.Considering these characteristics,the design of the shape-memory alloy based the cold thermal energy storage system for precooling car seat application is introduced in this paper based on the proposed shape-memory alloy-based cold thermal energy storage cycle.The simulation results show that the minimum temperature of the metal boss under the seat reaches 26.2°C at 9.85 s,which is reduced by 9.8°C,and the energy storage efficiency of the device is 66%.The influence of initial temperature,elastocaloric materials,and the shape-memory alloy geometry scheme on the performance of car seat cold thermal energy storage devices is also discussed.Since SMAs are both solid-state refrigerants and thermal energy storage materials,hopefully the proposed concept can promote the development of more promising shape-memory alloy-based cold and hot thermal energy storage devices.

A compact elastocaloric refrigerator

Elastocaloric cooling is regarded as one of the most promising cutting-edge alternatives to conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems.This technology is based on the temperature change of materials when being subjected to uniaxial stress,which has been observed in polymers,alloys,and ceramics.However,the existing elastocaloric prototypes have a bottleneck problem of an excessive mass ratio between the actuator and the solid-state refrigerant.