SBIR-STTR Award

Thermal energy storage (TES) coupled with next generation Coal FIRST power generators will significantly improve efficiency, and make the plant flexible to respond to various needs of dispatchable power such as ramp-up and ramp-down, improved control to prolong the life of plant by minimizing or eliminating large rate of change of temperature. There are several technologies for storing thermal energy and these TES technologies have different attributes – dynamic response, capability to simultaneously charge and discharge, capability to deliver desired temperature to power generator as a function of stored energy in TES and so on. These attributes effect the performance of the coupled system which can be evaluated using the mathematical platform – the Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy System (IDAES) platform. In Phase 1, Terrafore and SwRI will collaborate to build and implement mathematical models of TES in the IDAES platform for a variety of thermal storage systems (Terrafore scope) and advanced coal power cycles (SwRI scope) with the intent to determine optimal approaches for integrating TES into the power plant. Specifically, SwRI will build power cycle models for two coal-based cycles from the Coal FIRST program: Flameless Pressurized Oxy-combustion (FPO) cycle and coal-fired indirect supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO2) power cycle. Terrafore Technologies will enhance their existing models of at least eight different thermal storage technologies and implement three of these models – currently used two-tank molten salt TES, emerging dual-media (using solid such a rock and molten salt), and near term encapsulated phase change TES -in IDAES.