This work is focused on the use of the Calcium-Looping process (CaL) in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants for Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES). Cheap, abundant and nontoxic natural carbonate minerals, such as limestone and dolomite, can be employed in this application to store energy through the cyclic calcination/carbonation of CaCO₃. In a recent work, a closed CO₂ cycle has been proposed for an efficient CaL-CSP integration in which the CO₂ in excess effluent from the carbonator is used to generate electricity by means of a gas turbine. Process simulations show that the thermoelectric efficiency is enhanced as the carbonator pressure and temperature are increased provided that the multicycle CaO conversion is not affected. On the other hand, the use of just one reactor for both calcination and carbonation has been suggested to reduce capital cost. However, the experimental results shown in the present work indicate that sintering is notably enhanced as the pressure in the reactor is increased. Such an adverse effect is mitigated for a ZrO₂/CaCO₃ composite with a low Zr content as compared to natural carbonates. These results are relevant to process simulations for better assessing the global efficiency of the CaL-CSP integration.

中文翻译：

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压力对天然碳酸盐和Ca / Zr复合材料在聚光太阳能储能中的多循环活性的影响

这项工作的重点是在热化学能存储（TCES）的集中太阳能发电（CSP）厂中使用钙循环工艺（CaL）。廉价，丰富且无毒的天然碳酸盐矿物（例如石灰石和白云石）可用于此应用中，以通过CaCO ₃的循环煅烧/碳化来存储能量。在最近的工作中，已经提出了封闭的CO ₂循环用于有效的CaL-CSP集成，其中CO ₂来自碳酸化器的过量废水用于通过燃气轮机发电。过程仿真表明，只要不影响多循环CaO转化率，随着碳酸化器压力和温度的升高，热电效率会提高。另一方面，已经建议仅将一个反应器用于煅烧和碳酸化两者以降低资本成本。但是，目前工作中显示的实验结果表明，随着反应器中压力的增加，烧结显着增强。ZrO ₂ / CaCO ₃减轻了这种不利影响与天然碳酸盐相比，Zr含量低的复合材料。这些结果与过程仿真有关，可以更好地评估CaL-CSP集成的整体效率。