How pressure affects costs of power conversion machinery in compressed air energy storage; part II: Heat exchangers

Baniamerian, Zahra; Garvey, Seamus; Rouse, James; Cárdenas, Bruno; Pottie, Daniel L.; Barbour, Edward R.; Bagdanavicius, Audrius

Abstract

In the field of compressed air energy storage, a critical economic aspect that has been overlooked in existing literature relates to the influence of storage pressure on the capital cost of power conversion system. In Part I, a comprehensive study was conducted to address this question focusing on compressors and expanders. This part is devoted to the heat exchangers and basically assesses the engineering rationale behind the relationship between the cost per kW for HXs and operating pressure. Based on the performed analysis, the operating pressure of a HX impacts two crucial cost-related factors: the heat transfer area and required tube thicknesses. Higher operating pressures are associated with the smaller heat transfer area tending to lower costs, but increasing pressure raises tube thickness requirements, tending to increase costs. Below approximately 200 bar, the former effect prevails over the latter, leading to cost reductions with rising pressure. Conversely, at higher pressures, the latter effect outweighs the former, resulting in cost increases with increasing pressure. On the other hand, as the number of compression stages is increased to attain higher storage pressures, there is a noteworthy variation in the cost contribution of HXs. Specifically, the contribution of HX costs within the PCS machinery escalates from 10% at a storage pressure of 30 bar to approximately 35% at a storage pressure of 350 bar. This cost increase is accompanied by a substantial reduction in costs associated with other PCS machinery components (compressors and expanders), ultimately justifying the advantages of operating at higher storage pressures.

Citation

Baniamerian, Z., Garvey, S., Rouse, J., Cárdenas, B., Pottie, D. L., Barbour, E. R., & Bagdanavicius, A. (2024). How pressure affects costs of power conversion machinery in compressed air energy storage; part II: Heat exchangers. Journal of Energy Storage, 86(Pt A), Article 111138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2024.111138

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 12, 2024
• Publication Date: May 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 4, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Energy Storage
• Electronic ISSN: 2352-152X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: Pt A
• Article Number: 111138
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2024.111138
• Keywords: Compressed air energy storage; Operating pressure; Storage pressure; Heat exchanger; Cost per kW
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/32163125
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X24007229
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: How pressure affects costs of power conversion machinery in compressed air energy storage; part II: Heat exchangers; Journal Title: Journal of Energy Storage; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2024.111138; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.