Thermochemical energy storage and conversion: A-state-of-the-art review of the experimental research under practical conditions

Thermal energy storage and conversion aims to improve the high inefficiency of the industrial processes and renewable energy systems (supply versus demand). Chemical sorption processes and chemical reactions based on solid-gas systems are a promising way to store and convert thermal energy for heating or cooling applications and, thereby to increase the efficiency of the processes and to reduce the greenhouse effect. Although more efforts are required to bring this technology to the market, some important breakthrough have been made regarding to system efficiency. Over the last two decades, the experimental research in this field has increased largely to validate these advances under practical conditions. Therefore, this paper gives a state-of-art review of performances obtained under practical conditions by the different prototypes built over the last two decades. In addition, the main advantages and disadvantages of solid-gas chemical sorption processes and chemical reactions are summarized. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.