Multipurpose System for Cryogenic Energy Storage and Tri-Generation in a Food Factory: A Case Study of Producing Frozen French Fries

This contribution elaborates on a futuristic hybrid concept for the multifunctional employment of a liquid air energy storage (LAES) system for combined heat, cold and power production (tri-generation) in a food factory, thereby providing a substantial part of the energy demand for various unit operations and enhancing the round-trip efficiency (RTE) of LAES. A processing line for frozen French fries, with relatively high heating and refrigeration demands, is used as a case study. The total useful energy output per charge/discharge cycle is 61,677 kWh (i.e., 38,295 kWh of electricity, 19,278 kWh of heating, and 4104 kWh of refrigeration). The estimated tri-generation RTE of the studied system reaches 55.63%, which appears to be 1.2 times higher than the RTE of a classical standalone LAES system with the same power input, considered as a baseline. In a broader context, such a performance enhancement by amalgamating food and energy technologies can make cryogenic energy storage a more viable grid balancing option capable of substantially increasing the share of renewables in the energy supply mix.