Operating Range for a Combined, Building-Scale Liquid Air Energy Storage and Expansion System: Energy and Exergy Analysis

This paper presents the results of an ideal theoretical energy and exergy analysis for a combined, building scale Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) and expansion turbine system. This work identifies the upper bounds of energy and exergy efficiency for the combined LAES-expansion system which has not been investigated. The system uses the simple Linde-Hampson and pre-cooled Linde-Hampson cycles for the liquefaction subsystem and direct expansion method, with and without heating above ambient temperature, for the energy production subsystem. In addition, the paper highlights the effectiveness of precooling air for liquefaction and heating air beyond ambient temperature for energy production. Finally, analysis of the system components is presented with an aim toward identifying components that have the greatest impact on energy and exergy efficiencies in an ideal environment. This work highlights the engineering trade-space and serves as a prescription for determining the merit or measures of effectiveness for an engineered LAES system in terms of energy and exergy. The analytical approach presented in this paper may be applied to other LAES configurations in order to identify optimal operating points in terms of energy and exergy efficiencies.