Preliminary study on sound assisted calcium looping for TCES in CSP applications

Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is considered as a promising technology to accomplish high energy storage efficiency in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. Among all the alternatives, the calcium-looping (CaL) process, based on the reversible calcination-carbonation of CaCO3, is one of the most promising solution due to the high energy density achievable and the extremely low price, nontoxicity, and wide availability of natural CaO precursors such as limestone. In this work, sound-assisted fluidization has been used to improve the carbonation of fine CaO particles (< 10 ?m) at CSP conditions. In particular, CaL tests have been performed under ordinary and sound-assisted fluidization conditions in order to study the influence of the application of high intensity acoustic fields on the agglomeration of fine CaO particles. Tests have been carried out in a lab-scale experimental apparatus at CSP-CaL conditions. The effect of sound parameters (SPL and frequency) have been also highlighted