Numerical analysis of concentrated solar energy storage and utilization using fluidized beds

Concentrated solar energy (CSE) is an excellent source of energy because of the low environmental impacts, high efficiency of power generation, and ease of storage and release when needed. Fluidized beds are considered a good candidate for the receiver of CSE due to their excellent thermal properties, good mixing inside the bed, high interphase energy transfer, particle mobility and convertibility, and inherent flexibility of reactor design and operation. In this study, we attempt to gain a better understanding of fluidized bed systems as CSE receivers, using our computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to simulate high-energy CSE (254kW) receiving, storing, and utilizing in the fluidized systems. The capability of the fluidized bed as a high-energy CSE receiver was tested in this study by simulating CSE absorption by a fluidized bed of silicon carbide (SiC). The effect of using encapsulated phase change material (PCM) as the particle in the fluidized bed was also tested to investigate the impact of the bed material properties. Furthermore, continuous cases that used the fluidizing air and SiC particles as heat transfer fluids (HTFs) to utilize the absorbed CSE in a fluidized bed were tested. The results showed the capability of the fluidized bed to be the energy receiver to store and utilize the high-energy CSE.