Experimental study of a novel liquid air storage tank to mitigate oxygen enrichment during long-term energy storage
Liquid air energy storage (LAES) utilizes surplus electricity to liquefy air—comprising 78 % nitrogen, 21 % oxygen, and 1 % argon—for later use during peak demand. However, due to differing boiling points, nitrogen preferentially evaporates during storage, leading to oxygen enrichment, which poses s...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Case Studies in Thermal Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25009566 |
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| Summary: | Liquid air energy storage (LAES) utilizes surplus electricity to liquefy air—comprising 78 % nitrogen, 21 % oxygen, and 1 % argon—for later use during peak demand. However, due to differing boiling points, nitrogen preferentially evaporates during storage, leading to oxygen enrichment, which poses safety risks and reduces system reliability. To address this issue, this study proposes a novel composite insulation structure that integrates a Vapor Cooling Shield (VCS) for cold energy recovery and a Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) for promoting uniform mixing. An experimental setup was constructed to evaluate the thermodynamic performance over long-term storage. Compared to a conventional tank, the proposed system maintained a stable oxygen concentration of 20 %–21 % over 25 days, while the reference tank showed a rapid increase from 21 % to 44.7 % after 12 days. In addition, the daily evaporation rate remained below 1 %, in contrast to the increase from 0.76 % to 8.6 % in the traditional tank. These results confirm that the proposed insulation design effectively mitigates concentration stratification and cold loss, significantly enhancing the safety and efficiency of long-duration LAES systems.⤎ |
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| ISSN: | 2214-157X |