SOLTEC | A Game-Changing Solar-Thermochemical Heat Storage and Intensification Technology for the Process Heat Sector

Summary
"This project proposes a game-changing integrated technology of solar Fresnel Lens Collectors (FLCs) and Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES) systems. This solution is primarily proposed to bring sustainability to the process heating sector, which has been so far very challenging to decarbonize due to a lack of cost-effective and reliable solutions. Besides this main feature, the proposed technology has some distinguishing attributes that make it groundbreaking scientifically and very competitive technically. These are 1) solving the technical challenges of TCES systems, namely material agglomeration over time and non-uniform heat distribution throughout the material within the reactor, by proposing the central receiver tube of FLCs as the dehydration reactor of the TCES system using ""CaSO4+H2O"" or ""SrBr2+H2O"" as the primary reactive materials, 2)integration of the solar collectors' field and the TCES system leading to lowered capital and maintenance costs and increased overall efficiency, and3)significant temperature lifting of the stored solar heat during the hydration phase of the thermochemical material (heat intensification), via changing the exothermic reaction's physical conditions, enabling the system for process heating at much higher temperatures which are otherwise not possible by an FLC system. With main hypothesis that the uniform flow of reactive material can effectively be controlled and helpful for its agglomeration and non-uniform heat distribution prevention, SOLTEC aims at laying the first stone of research on this technology and pushing the edges of the state-of-the-art through a) developing the theoretical principles of solar heat capturing/storing/intensification process, b) developing the optimal and compatible design of the FLCs for this, and c) techno-economic and environmental evaluation of the technology. The project will develop the fundamental theories and methods to design, optimize, and test this innovatively operating solar system."
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101147098
Start date: 01-07-2024
End date: 30-06-2026
Total budget - Public funding: - 230 774,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

"This project proposes a game-changing integrated technology of solar Fresnel Lens Collectors (FLCs) and Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES) systems. This solution is primarily proposed to bring sustainability to the process heating sector, which has been so far very challenging to decarbonize due to a lack of cost-effective and reliable solutions. Besides this main feature, the proposed technology has some distinguishing attributes that make it groundbreaking scientifically and very competitive technically. These are 1) solving the technical challenges of TCES systems, namely material agglomeration over time and non-uniform heat distribution throughout the material within the reactor, by proposing the central receiver tube of FLCs as the dehydration reactor of the TCES system using ""CaSO4+H2O"" or ""SrBr2+H2O"" as the primary reactive materials, 2)integration of the solar collectors' field and the TCES system leading to lowered capital and maintenance costs and increased overall efficiency, and3)significant temperature lifting of the stored solar heat during the hydration phase of the thermochemical material (heat intensification), via changing the exothermic reaction's physical conditions, enabling the system for process heating at much higher temperatures which are otherwise not possible by an FLC system. With main hypothesis that the uniform flow of reactive material can effectively be controlled and helpful for its agglomeration and non-uniform heat distribution prevention, SOLTEC aims at laying the first stone of research on this technology and pushing the edges of the state-of-the-art through a) developing the theoretical principles of solar heat capturing/storing/intensification process, b) developing the optimal and compatible design of the FLCs for this, and c) techno-economic and environmental evaluation of the technology. The project will develop the fundamental theories and methods to design, optimize, and test this innovatively operating solar system."

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01

Update Date

03-10-2024
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.1 Excellent Science
HORIZON.1.2 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
HORIZON.1.2.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023