EXERGY ANALYSIS OF A CAES WITH THERMAL ENERGY

STORAGE
Giuseppe Grazzini, Adriano Milazzo
Dipartimento di Energetica “Sergio Stecco”
Università di Firenze, ITALY

Abstract
A Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) with thermal energy recovery is presented. The latter
recovers thermal energy in the compression phase and delivers it to the expanding air, eliminating
the need for a combustion chamber and therefore avoiding local pollutant emissions.
Seeking for maximum system flexibility, reference is made to an artificial storage and compressed
air pressure is seen as a design variable.
The proposed system has a multistage design with variable configuration, in order to handle the
increasing /decreasing pressure in the storage. Hence each compression/expansion stage works in a
relatively narrow range of pressure ratio throughout the energy storage and recovery phases.
In order to raise its energy recovery efficiency, the proposed system is analyzed in terms of exergy
destruction minimization. Some of its design parameters are optimized.

Nomenclature
cp constant pressure specific heat W& power
cv constant volume specific heat β compression ratio
D reservoir diameter ε heat exchanger efficiency
E stored energy λ (m-1)/m
Ex exergy ρ density of reservoir material
m polytropic exponent σ allowable stress of reservoir material
m& mass flow rate
mres mass of reservoir Subscripts
n number of stages AC hot storage
p pressure AF cold storage
R gas constant c compression
s reservoir wall thickness e expansion
t time h heated
T temperature i exit of i-esime stage
V storage volume r cooled
Vmat volume of reservoir material rec recovery
W work 0 ambient

1. Introduction
Renewable energy sources have often high time variability. This is especially true for wind energy,
which however is now the most economically competitive. Therefore energy storage systems,
previously used mainly to face demand fluctuations, receive increasing interest.
Various energy storage technologies, based on different physical principles, are available (figure 1).
Each of them is well suited for a specific power or energy range. Some of these systems, such as
flywheels or supercapacitors, have limited capacity. Others, like advanced batteries or fuel cells,
have high costs or low availability. Often there is a limit on maximum number of discharge cycles.
Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) stands, in terms of power, slightly below pumped hydro
systems in the upper right corner of figure 1. Actually, in the few practical realizations, CAES
systems are hybrid plants, comprising energy storage and conversion. Ambient air is compressed
and stored in large underground caverns during low demand periods. In peak hours, the compressed
air is heated in a combustor and fed to a gas turbine. In this way, the whole turbine power is
available at the alternator, compression being performed apart. The compression may be inter-
refrigerated, but the recovered energy is usually wasted.
The economic potential of a current technology CAES system has been given by Salgi and Lund
(2006), with reference to a network with high wind energy share. CAES in arid regions was dealt
with by Najjar and Zaamout (1998).
Our work is an attempt to analyze some modifications of the said CAES concept:
1. To optimize energy recovery efficiency, the heat expelled during compression should be
recovered and re-used during expansion. This claims for thermal energy storage (TES –
Nakhamkin et al. - 1991).
2. In order to avoid local gaseous emission, the combustor should be eliminated. This produces
the so-called “Adiabatic CAES” concept, which is the object of an EU research project (Project
Reference ENK6-CT-2002-00611). Initial results of this project were reported by Zunft et al.
(2006). However, some significant departures have here been made from this approach.
3. The CAES concept can be uncoupled from the availability of underground natural volumes
(Bradshaw, 2000). To this aim, low cost artificial reservoirs should be conceived. In this way, a
CAES could be located near the renewable energy source or in any location that minimizes
global energy transmission cost in a distributed generation scenario. An extreme consequence
of this concept, presented by Kukhartsev et al. (2006), is the direct coupling of air compressors
to wind turbines, avoiding mechanical-to-electric energy conversion.

1.E+10 FW Flywheel
PH FC Fuel Cell
1.E+09 Batt Lead-Acid Battery
CAES
1.E+08 Cap Supercapacitor
SMES SMES Superconducting
1.E+07 Magnets
PH Pumped Hydro
FC Batt
Energy [kJ]

1.E+06 Batt FC CAES Compressed Air

FC FC Batt Energy Storage
1.E+05
1 day FW
FW FW SMES
1.E+04 1 hr FW SMES SMES
Batt FW
1.E+03 Cap in
1m Cap FW
1.E+02 Batt Cap 1s
Cap
1.E+01 Cap

1.E+00
1.E+00 1.E+01 1.E+02 1.E+03 1.E+04 1.E+05
Power [kW]

Figure 1: Performance of energy storage technologies (data from Schoenung 2001).

2. Design of a CAES system for renewable energy plant.

2.1 – Choice of storage pressure

Taking as reference a medium size wind turbine, the system input power could be W& = 500 kW. If
charging period is tc = 8 hours at full power, the stored energy would be E = W& ⋅ tc = 14 400 MJ.
Actually, most of following results are independent of these assumptions.
The energy stored in a volume of compressed air at ambient temperature depends on compression
ratio β. Being system cost a function of the required volume, a significant parameter is the stored
energy per unit storage volume, that is:
E
= p0 β ln (β ) 1
V
where p0 is the ambient pressure. Storage volume decreases with β. For an artificial reservoir, the
material required is related to the net volume and to the load carrying capacity of the material.
For the sake of simplicity, the material is considered to be working at constant stress, as in the case
of a relatively thin sphere. If the thickness s is small, its value can be calculated as s / D = p / 4σ ,
where p is the pressure, D the reservoir diameter and σ the maximum allowed stress. With some
simplification, the material volume results as:
Vmat 3 p
= 2
V 2σ
Introducing the density ρ of the reservoir material, the stored energy per unit mass of reservoir is :
E 2σ
= ln(β ) 3
mres 3 ρ
Commercial steel with allowable stress σ = 234 MPa has σ / ρ ≅ 30 kJ/kg. As shown in figure 2,
with β > 150 the specific energy can be over 100 kJ/kg. For comparison, specific energy of a mass
at 1000 m above sea level is 9.8 kJ/kg. In practice, the reservoir mass will be slightly higher than
above estimated, due to practical available shapes, accessories, etc.
160
40
140

120
30
E/mres [kJ/kg]

s /r [kJ/kg]
100

80 20

60

40 10

20

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Compression ratio b

Figure 2: Stored energy per unit mass of reservoir as a function of material strength

2.2 – Energy storage and recovery

Figure 2 shows that stored energy has a modest increase for β > 150. Accordingly, β = 200 is
assumed hereafter. Both in case of volumetric or dynamic compressors, the compression can be
analyzed as a polytropic transformation whose exponent m is higher than the specific heat ratio
cp/cv. Therefore, compressed air temperature1 increases according to:
m −1
Tc = T0 (β ) m 4
In order to limit this exit temperature and energy loss, the compression can be divided into stages
with inter-cooling. If heat exchangers used for cooling have efficiency ε and the cooling medium
enters at temperature TAF, the exit temperature from i-esime stage is:

1
Actually, reference should be made to stagnation temperature, but this would not change the results
 Ti = (1 − ε )β i Ti −1 + εTAF
λ
5
~
where λ = (m–1) / m. For n stages, the non-dimensional compression work Wc = Wc / c pT0 is: ( )
~ n−1 T
Wc = ∑ i β i − 1
T
λ
( ) 6
i =1 0

Recovered heat can be stored and re-used in the expansion phase, raising the air temperature and
increasing the recovered work. For the sake of simplicity, the exchangers can be arranged in parallel
(figure 3). In this case, the cooling fluid temperature TAC in the hot storage is the average of those
reached at the exit of the exchangers.
Zunft et al. (2006) used a single stage compression in order to raise the recovered heat temperature.
Conversely, present analysis seeks an optimum number of stages for maximum system efficiency.
The hot storage temperature is related to cold storage and to compressor exit temperature given by
(4) through the heat exchanger efficiency ε :
T AC = T AF + ε (Tc − T AF ) 7

Compression train Expansion train

M C1 C2 C3 E1 E2 E3 U

Compressed air
Hot storage storage Cold storage

Figure 3: Scheme of CAES system with thermal storage

The final temperature of the refrigerant fluid decreases with the number of stages.
The expansion can be dealt with similarly, accounting for heat exchange between air and fluid that
comes from the hot storage at TAC. Air enters the expander at a temperature
Th = T0 + ε (T AC − T0 ) 8
Afterwards, air is expanded down to a temperature Te = Th (β ) , where λ has a different value
−λ

from compression, m now being smaller that k. The exit temperature from i-esime stage is:
Ti = [Ti −1 (1 − ε ) + εTAC ]β i
−λ
9
~
The non-dimensional expansion work We = We / (c pT0 ) for an n-stage system is:
n
T
~
We = ∑ i β i − 1
λ
( ) 10
i =1 T0

Recovery efficiencies η can be defined as ratio between stored and recovered energy.

2.3 – Variable configuration system

In the storage phase, the compression ratio starts from β = 1 (or from some residual value after
discharge phase) and increases up to its maximum value βmax = 200. The opposite takes place
during discharge. A real compressor or turbine would hardly work with reasonable efficiency on
such an extended range. Simply wasting the exceeding pressure on a valve would be acceptable
only for small and infrequently operated systems.
The problem can be solved by a variable configuration. At first the stages are operated in parallel,
driving large flow rate inside the reservoir. As pressure increases, the stages are placed in series.
A variable configuration arrangement is shown in figure 4, where TES is omitted for clarity. Each
valve has a parallel (“p”) and a series (“s”) position. The possible configurations are: 5 stages in
parallel (valve set as “pppp”), parallel of 3 in series with parallel of 2 (“ppsp”), parallel of 2 in
series with parallel of 2 in series with the last stage (“psps”), parallel of 2 in series with the others
(“psss”) and finally all stages in series (“ssss”).
The real behaviour of compressors and expanders depends on the specific machine and its drive. If
operated at constant power, in any configuration each unit will receive/deliver 1/5 of the entire
power. Each stage has a maximum flow rate and compression ratio.

M C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Compressed
P P P P air storage

M C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Compressed
P P S P air storage

M C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Compressed
P S P S air storage

M C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Compressed
P S S S air storage

M C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Compressed
S S S S air storage

Figure 4: Compression with variable configuration

The instant flow rate can be expressed as a function of compression work W as:
.
m = W& / W 11
In the absence of fluid sinks, this input flow in the storage volume V is equal to the increase of
stored mass. The latter, if temperature T inside the storage volume is basically constant and equal to
ambient temperature T0, depends solely on pressure:
. dm V dp
m= = 12
dt RT0 dt
Substituting and integrating gives a relation between time and pressure:
p β β
V pV m
t= ∫
W& RT0 p0
Wdp = 0 ∫ W (β )dβ = 0 ∫ W (β )dβ
W& RT0 1 W& 1
13

where m0 is the air mass stored at ambient pressure.

When all stages are in parallel, each of them works on the whole compression ratio. In the 3+2
configuration, the two groups of stages in parallel have different compression ratios. Mass flow and
power balance give:
m& &
(T1 − T0 ) = m (T4 − T1r )
3 2
where T1 is the exit temperature from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd stage, reduced to T1r after the heat
exchangers, and T4 is the exit temperature from the 4th and 5th stage. Introducing the compression
ratios β1 for the first group of 3 stages and β2 for the second group of 2 stages, we have T1 = T0 β1λ ,
T4 = T1r β 2λ , T1r = (1 − ε )T1 + εTAF , hence
2 T0 λ
β 2λ = 1 + (
3 T1r
)
β1 − 1 and β = β 1 β 2 17
Partial and total compression ratios in all other configurations may be found likewise.
A numerical simulation has been carried out with the following assumptions:

W& 500 kW βtot 200 E 14400 MJ

p0 100 kPa T0 293 K V 136 m3
m0 162 kg ε 0.7 Taf 288 K
βmax 3.2 m& max 5 kg/s

Constant cp = 1.0 kJ kg-1 K-1 and cp/cv = 1.4 are used. Polytropic exponents are 1.45 for compression
and 1.36 for expansion. Thermal fluid, inducted air and storage volume are initially at T0.
The results (figure 5) give a compression phase duration tc = 32 134 s, i.e. 8h and 56 min.
If pressure losses are negligible, storage pressure is equal to the global compression ratio multiplied
by p0. The increased charging time with respect to the assumed 8 hours is due to the higher work
expended with respect to stored energy. A fraction of this supplemental work is stored in the TES.
Each phase ends when a compressor reaches the maximum allowed compression ratio (βmax = 3.2).
Different strategies could be set on specific needs. The constraint on maximum mass flow rate for a
single stage m& max = 5 kg/s (at p0) has effect only on the initial part of first phase, leaving unaffected
the final result. Most likely, a real system would have a much longer start up time.
Neglecting thermal losses and assuming a fixed efficiency ε = 0.7 for all heat exchangers, the TES
fluid reaches a maximum temperature of 405 K, allowing use of pressurized water.
The discharge phase follows an inverse sequence and has a duration tc = 21 845 s. Stages are first
set in series and then in parallel. Before expansion, air is heated by hot water drawn from the TES.
Optimum value of TES mass, using water, is mTES = 45 600 kg.
 200
100

50
ssss
b
20
psss

t = 32134 s
(a) 10
psps

ppsp 5

2
pppp
1
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 time [s]
200
100
ssss
50
b
20
(b) 10 psss
5 psps
ppsp
2
pppp
1
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 time [s]
Figure 5 – Simulation of the compression (a) and expansion (b) phase

2.4 – Exergy analysis

Compression work represents an exergy input: Exin = W& ⋅ tc = 16.1 ⋅ 10 6 kJ

According to Bejan et al. (1996), stored exergy in form of compressed air at temperature T0 and
pressure p0β is:
ExCAES = p0 V β (ln β + 1/β – 1) = 11.7⋅106 kJ
The same source gives the stored exergy in form of hot water at temperature TAC:
ExTES = mTES cTEST0 [TAC/T0 – 1 – ln (TAC/T0)] = 1.78⋅106 kJ
being cTES the specific heat of the TES fluid.
Therefore the TES retains about 15% of the exergy stored in the CAES.
Exergy loss during compression is then: Exloss = Exin – ExCAES – ExTES = 2.63 ⋅106 kJ, that is about
16% of the exergy input Exin. This loss is mainly due to heat transfer irreversibilities within the heat
exchangers, mixing of flows with different temperature and residual thermal energy of the
compressed air at storage entrance, which is completely lost in this model. Pressure losses in the
heat exchangers have been neglected.
The work delivered in the discharge phase represents an exergy output:
Exout = W& ⋅ t e = 10.9 ⋅ 10 6 kJ
The exergy loss in this phase is Exloss = ExCAES + ExTES – Exout = 2.61⋅106 kJ, that is about 24% of
the delivered exergy. More significantly this loss should be referred to the input exergy Exin, giving
the same relative loss of the compression and confirming that the rough optimization performed on
thermal storage mass has uniformly distributed the exergy losses between the two phases.
Again, being pressure losses neglected, discharge exergy loss is due to heat transfer irreversibility.
The global exergy efficiency of the system is:
ηrec = Exout / Exin = 0.675
This value is close to those of common electric batteries.
Being exergy losses due to heat transfer normally prominent, inclusion of pressure losses within
heat exchangers would give a moderate penalty. On the other hand, the system could be further
optimized, once its components were selected. Therefore, the calculated value may be a good
starting point for further analysis.

Closure
Exergy analysis has been applied to a compressed air energy storage with variable configuration,
thermal energy recovery and without combustion. The system has been numerically simulated on a
medium size configuration (500 kW) with a rather high storage pressure (200 bar). The simulation
has been performed at constant power, which could be the case if compressors were mechanically
coupled to the wind rotors. However, a constant speed strategy would be feasible as well.
The calculated CAES volume (136 m3) is rather low. Storage of thermal energy recovered during
the compression phase requires also a TES. For example, using water, more than 45 m3 of storage
are needed. Anyway, both space requirements are compatible with the area available around a wind
turbine of the assumed power size, given the distances imposed between wind turbines by
functional and safety reasons.
The proposed variable configuration allows efficient operation throughout the pressure range
covered during the charge/discharge. The exergy analysis has brought to an optimization of the
relative size of the CAES and TES sections. Even if further details could be included in the
simulation, the results seem sufficient to demonstrate the thermodynamic feasibility of the system.
The system could give further opportunities if the hot or cold TES fluid were used outside the
CAES for combined heat, power and refrigeration purpose.

References
5th EU Framework Programme, Advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (AA-CAES),
Project Reference: ENK6-CT-2002-00611
Bejan A., Tsatsaronis G., Moran M., Thermal Design and Optimization, Wiley & sons, 1996
Bradshaw D T, Pumped Hydroelectric Storage (PHS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES),
IEEE PES Summer meeting, Seattle, July 2000
Kukhartsev V, Motulevich V, Spiridonov A, Power system on the basis of wind-generated
compressed air, IX WREC, Florence, August 2006
Najjar Y S H, Zaamout M S, Performance analysis of compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant
for dry regions, Energy Conv. Manag., 39: 15, 1503-1511, 1998
Nakhamkin M, Schainker R, Swensen E, Pollak R, Compressed Air Energy Storage: Survey of
Advanced CAES Development, ASME 91-JPGC-NE-26, Int. Power Generation Conf.,
1991, San Diego CA
Salgi G, Lund H, Compressed air energy storage in Denmark; a feasibility study and an overall
energy system analysis, IX WREC, Florence, August 2006
Schoenung S.M., Characteristics and technologies for long- vs. short-term energy storage, Sandia
Lab. 2001 Rep. SAND2001-0765 infoserve.sandia.gov/sand_doc/2001/010765.pdf
Zunft S, Jakiel C, Koller M, Bullough C, Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage for the Grid
Integration of Wind Power, 6th Int. Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power
and Transmission Networks for Offshore Windfarms, October 2006, Delft, NL\