Author(s)

Bagre Boubou^1,2, Ibrahim Kalawole Muritala³, Boukar Makinta¹, Daho Tizane², Tubreoumya Guy Christian², Nebie Jacques², Dabilgou Téré², Bere Antoine², Adamou Rabani²

¹West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, Graduate Research Program on Energy and Climate Change, Université, Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niger.
²Laboratoire de Physique et de Chimie de l’Environnement de l’Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
³Institute of Low Carbon Industrial Process of German Aerospace Center (DLR), Deutches Zentrum, Germany.

In this paper, a literature review on thermocline storage performance for Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant storage systems has been conducted. The efficiency of materials to store heat depends on the storage process like sensible heat storage, latent heat storage and thermochemical one and also on their properties. This study has been focused on sensible heat storage materials especially thermocline storage system (DMT) using eco-materials which has a high potentiality (35%) to reduce CSP cost. There is a possibility to use natural rocks, industry waste and to develop also materials for a thermocline storage within a bed called packed bed using one tank. The thermal storage materials should have some optimum parameters (particle diameter less than 2 cm and good thermo-physical properties) to achieve better thermal storage performance (thermal cycle efficiency, extraction factor). However, the size and the shape of natural rocks are uncontrollable (big diameter) and can drive to thermocline degradation, catastrophic thermal ratcheting and poor thermal stratification due to the variability of the storage system porosity and the stress on the storage tank wall. Also a better thermal storage efficiency is achievable at low velocity and with good thermo-physical properties of the HTF. The ratio H/D, the height, the porosity, the shape and the position of the tank should be optimized to increase the storage efficiency.

Thermocline Storage, Storage Effectiveness, Storage Materials, Optimum Parameters

Boubou, B. , Kalawole Muritala, I. , Makinta, B. , Tizane, D. , Guy Christian, T. , Jacques, N. , Téré, D. , Antoine, B. and Rabani, A. (2021) Review on Thermocline Storage Effectiveness for Concentrating Solar Power Plant. Energy and Power Engineering, 13, 343-364. doi: 10.4236/epe.2021.1310024.