INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH Int. J. Energy Res.

2005; 29:177188 Published online 17 December 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/er.1052

Thermodynamic and economic analysis of heat storage application in co-generation systems

Wojciech Kostowskin,y and Janusz Skorekz
Institute of Thermal Technology, Konarskiego 22, 44-101 Gliwice, Poland

SUMMARY The possibility of improvement of the energy performance and economic feasibility of a CHP plant by the use of hot water storage tank is analysed in the paper. An energy balance of a system consisting of a CHP module, a peak boiler and a heat storage unit has been built and the storage eciency has been dened. Heat transfer in storage tanks and its inuence on the energy balance is discussed. A numerical model of heat transfer in the storage tank is presented. The thermodynamic and economic optimum of the tank volume for a sample co-generation plant has been found. It has been eventually proved that the installation of a heat storage unit provides reduction of fuel consumption in the system. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS:

co-generation; heat storage; buoyancy hot water tanks; stratication

1. INTRODUCTION Production of electricity, heat and cold still bases mainly on thermal processes which convert the primary chemical or nuclear energy of fuels. Depletion of fuels as well as ecological problems implied by the energy production force us to utilize the primary energy more eciently and economically. Contemporary technologies of energy production should be characterized by:
* *

high eciency of energy conversion, minimal possible environmental impact (low emissions of toxic gases, dust, noise, water consumption and production of sewage), economic feasibility: short pay-back time, high prot (e.g. net present value (NPV)).

One of the energy production technologies satisfying these requirements is the small scale, distributed co-generation based on gaseous fuels (COGEN Agency Europe, 2001; Major, 1993; Minett, 2003). Co-generation plants (combined heat and power}CHP) are built on the base of gas engines, gas turbines, microturbines and recently fuel cells. Location of the CHP plants corresponds usually to local needs in small industrial facilities, hospitals, swimming pools, etc.
n

y z

Correspondence to: Wojciech Kostowski, Institute of Thermal Technology, Konarskiego 22, 44-101 Gliwice, Poland. E-mail: wkost@itc.polsl.pl E-mail: skorek@itc.polsl.pl

Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 8 March 2004 Accepted 30 June 2004

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d: d and heat demand Q The local needs are described by the momentary electricity demand E p and The operation of the CHP plant is described by the momentary electricity production E p : The CHP plant can follow several possible modes of operation. The mode heat production Q of operation strongly inuences the economic feasibility of system (Skorek, 2002). The most important modes are: heat tracking mode (HT) and electricity tracking (ET). For the HT mode p Q d ; while electricity E p is a by p is a by-product. For the ET mode E p E d ; while heat Q Q product. In both modes the CHP operation is limited by the minimal and maximal electric p;min and E p;max : output E The choice between these modes is possible only if the CHP is connected to the public electricity grid. In other cases (island operation) electricity tracking is obligatory. In both operation modes production of at least one medium (heat or electricity) does not match the demand. In the HT mode electricity shortage occurs alternatively with electricity surplus. Thus, depending on the operating state, excess/shortage electricity is sold/bought from the grid. In the ET mode the heat shortage can appear alternatively with the heat surplus. Heat shortages are usually covered by peak boilers (PB). Heat surplus has to be lost to the environment, which decreases thermodynamic performance of co-generation. This thermodynamic disadvantage implies economic losses and can be reduced by installation of heat storage units (ST). A sample co-generation system installed in a joinery is shown in Figure 1. The system contains a CHP module, a peak boiler and a hot water tank used as a heat storage unit. The prole of the energy demand in this factory along 30 sample days is shown in Figure 2. d in the factory is determined mainly by the operation of wood The electricity demand E d result from the operation of the manufacturing machines. Changes of the electricity demand E factory with lower demand at night, on weekends and during lunch-breaks. The heat demand d is determined by continuous operation of wood dryers, characterized by a 21-day operating Q

Figure 1. The scheme of co-generation plant with a PB and an ST.

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electricity demand

Figure 2. Electricity and heat demand in the case-study co-generation plant.

cycle. In the factory, a 250 kWel CHP module is installed. The analysed operation mode is the p of the CHP follows the electricity demand E d: electricity tracking, i.e. the electric output E Since the most of small-scale CHP plants produce heat in the form of hot water and the changes of the energy demand have a daily (short-term) character, stratied water tanks are commonly used as heat storage units. In this type of tank the buoyancy forces enable the hot (feeding) water sustain above the cold (return) one. The volumes of hot and cold water are separated by a transient layer, where the temperature decreases towards tank bottom. The type and size of the tank depends on the CHP power and on water temperatures in the system. Large-scale CHPs work at temperatures above 90=708C; which forces water to be stored in pressurized steel tanks with elliptic ends. Steel tanks have to be insulated. Fibreglass or polyethylene non-pressurized tanks with at ends are usually installed for 90=708C and lower water temperatures (used in the small-scale CHPs). These tanks have better isolating properties and do not require supplementary insulation. Stratied water tanks are designed for a short-term heat storage and enable us an equalization p and the of daily load proles only. Let us denote the momentary heat production by Q d : In periods with momentary heat surplus we have: momentary heat demand by Q ( d for Q p > Q d p Q Q Q 1 0 otherwise and in periods with momentary heat shortage we have: ( p for Q p 5Q d d Q Q Q 0 otherwise
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> 0 feeding water of a constant temperature Tf is supplied to During the charging stage Q the upper part of the tank, while the same amount of cold water is taken o from the tank bottom. The transient layer changes its position by moving downwards. Depending on the amount of heat to be stored, the feeding water lls a part or the whole tank. The maximum heat storage capacity is limited by the tank volume. An opposite process takes place during the > 0 : discharge of the tank, realized in periods with heat shortage Q Between the charging and the discharging state the temperature of water in the stratied hot water tank does not remain constant. Water discharged from the tank has thus a temperature lower than required Tf and has to be heated up to Tf in a serially connected peak boiler (see Figure 1). The rst aim of the present work is to determine the impact of heat storage installation on the fuel consumption in the peak boiler and in the CHP unit. The second aim is to perform thermodynamic and economic optimization of the storage tank size.

2. ENERGY BALANCE OF HOT WATER STORAGE To nd the relation between the extracted and the stored heat it is necessary to build an energy and Q dened in Equations (1) and (2) balance of hot water storage. The quantities of heat Q are momentary ones. Since heat storage is a periodic process, the energy balance has to be made for a longer period tn ; for example, 1 year. The annual quantities are dened as follows: heat surplus heat shortage stored heat extracted heat R dt Q R tn Q dt Q R tn Q st cTst Tr dt Qst Rtn m ex cTex Tr dt Qex tn m

Annual amount of heat QB produced by the peak boiler consists of two parts: Z ex cTf Tex dt QB2 QB QB1 QB2 m
tn

where QB1 denotes the heat produced by the peak boiler in periods when heat from the storage tank is available, but the temperature of the discharged water has to be raised to Tf and QB2 denotes the heat produced by the peak boiler in periods when heat from the storage tank is not available. Heat surplus and heat shortage, the stored and the extracted heat as well as parts of heat production in the peak boiler are presented in Figure 3, where a load duration curve presents the p and heat demand Q d: dierence between the momentary heat production Q The energy balance for the heat storage process should include the heat losses into environment dQ: These losses can be divided into 3 groups: dQ1 } if the tank is entirely charged but there is still heat surplus, then heat produced by the CHP unit has to be lost to environment, dQ2 } heat losses through the tank walls into the environment, dQ3 } heat losses due to the contact between the hot and the cold water in the storage tank.
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300

Q1
200 100

. . Q+ (Qp > Qd) 382 MWh

. - . Q (Qp < Qd) 759 MWh

Qst
kWth
0 -100 -200 -300 -400 0 2 000 4 000 6 000 8 000 hours p Q d: Figure 3. Heat storage and the load duration curve of Q

area = Qst

Qex Q2 + Q3 = QB1 QB2

> 0; tank The loss dQ3 requires a comment. In periods with heat surplus in the system (Q charging), return water is taken o from the tank bottom. Due to heat conduction from hot to cold water within the tank, this water may have a temperature higher than the temperature of return water Tr : However, due to heat surplus in the system it is not possible to use this temperature excess. Water with a temperature higher than Tr ows to the CHP module. In order to maintain the required feeding water temperature Tf ; the CHP control system switches on or increases the power of the emergency fan coolers. The heat dQ3 is thus given up to the environment. If we assume that the eciency of the engine does not change during this emergency cooling, we can state that there is no impact of the heat storage on the fuel consumption in the CHP unit. Thus, the objective of the thermodynamic analysis is to nd the reduction of fuel consumption in the peak boiler due to installation of a heat storage unit. The energy balance can be written for each stage or for the entire process of heat storage: a charging: Q dQ1 Qst 4

b storage: Qst dQ2 dQ3 Qex c discharging: Qex QB1 QB2 Q S entire process: Q dQ1 dQ2 dQ3 QB1 QB2 Q Equation (4) is presented in Figure 4 in the form of Sankey diagram.
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Figure 4. Energy balance of heat storage.

Basing on the energy balance we can also dene storage eciency Z: Z Q dQ1 dQ2 dQ3 Qex Q Q 5

This denition includes all losses: dQ1 ; dQ2 and dQ3 : The losses dQ2 and dQ3 are covered by the peak boiler as the water discharged from the tank is heated up to the feeding temperature Tf dQ2 dQ3 QB1 : The loss dQ1 is covered by heat production in the peak boiler in periods when no stored heat available. Hence, a function QB f Z cannot be dened and the peak boiler usage has to be computed separately. To evaluate the impact of the heat storage unit onto the performance of co-generation plant we have to calculate fuel consumption in the peak boiler, while the storage eciency is only an additional theoretic information.

3. NUMERICAL MODEL OF STORAGE TANK OPERATION Equation (4) includes unknown heat losses dQ1 ; dQ2 and dQ3 : To nd these losses it is necessary to analyse thermal processes occurring in the storage tank as well as the processes of charging and discharging. We should here remember that the storage tank is a part of a co-generation system. To solve the problem the authors have built a numerical model consisting of two submodels describing heat transfer and the ow of water. The sub-model of heat transfer has been built to analyse periods, when the tank is neither charged nor discharged and can be regarded as an enclosed thermodynamic system. Heat transfer comprises heat conduction from the hot to the cold water, convection, water mixing during charging/discharging the tank, heat accumulation in the tank walls and heat transfer to the environment through tank walls. A numerical model of transient heat transfer was built under the following main assumptions:
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* * *

tank geometry is cylindrical, ambient temperature and heat transfer coecients are constant, convection in water and heat accumulation in tank walls are not considered.

It should be stressed, that the third assumption can be done when analysing polyethylene or breglass tanks only (not for pressurized steel storage tanks). Boundary conditions of the third kind are assumed at internal and external surfaces of the tank wall. Data for the analysis include: the ambient temperature T0 ; heat transfer coecients outside the tank aout;123 where 1 denotes tank bottom, 2 denotes tank top and 3 denotes the side surface; thickness d and conductivity l1 for all tank walls, water density r and thermal conductivity l2 : It is assumed that at the beginning of the analysis (for t 0) the tank is lled to the half of its maximal capacity with hot water of a temperature Tf while its lower part is lled with cold water of a temperature Tr : Heat transfer coecient ain inside the tank depends on the water temperature and is thus unknown but its value has a very weak inuence on the overall heat transfer coecient k0 : For this reason an average coecient for the temperature Tf Tr =2 has been assumed. The model was built on the base of the nite volume method (FVM). The tank volume was divided into n horizontal, cylindrical dierential elements, for which the energy balance can be written. The model is quasi-two-dimensional: the temperature is assumed to be a function of the vertical co-ordinate y and time only, while heat can ow along y-axis between adjacent n; n 1; n 1 elements as well as from the nth element to the environment. The energy balance for given dierential element i was built using the explicit numerical scheme: X 1 Vi ci ri Tik1 Tik Aji Tjk Tik Dt 6 R ji j where k denotes time step and the thermal resistance Rji is dened as: 8 Dyji > > for internal heat transfer < l 2 Rji > > :1 for boundary heat transfer k0

The temperature of given element for the next time step k 1 can be calculated directly from Equation (6). A mesh of n 500 control volume elements and a time step of Dt1 60 s were used for numerical calculations. Sample results of numerical evaluation of the temperature distribution in a stratied hot water tank are presented in Figure 5. It can be seen that the term transient layer does not describe precisely the thermal conditions in the tank. After longer storage periods this layer stretches over the whole tank. An additional eect of cold tank ends can be also observed. These numerical results are similar to the results of experimental research presented in Hemzal and Wurm (1994). The model was also veried by comparison with the analytical solution for the temperature distribution in an ideally insulated tank (Skorek and Kostowski, 2002). The sub-model of water ow simulates the processes of charging and discharging and is coupled with the heat transfer model because it changes the location of discretization elements.
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W. KOSTOWSKI AND J. SKOREK

Figure 5. Temperature distribution in a storage tank after t 0; 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of storage without mass transfer; y=H }vertical co-ordinate related to the tank height.

This model uses the operational data for the co-generation system}information about or shortage Q : In periods of heat surplus in the system momentary heat surplus Q tank charging is simulated. The mass of the feeding water charged into the tank during : This amount of water 1 h is calculated as a function of the amount of heat surplus Q corresponds to n1 control volumes. All elements are displaced by n1 downwards, and n1 upper elements change their temperature to the feeding water temperature Tf : Due to the displacement, n1 lower elements leave the tank. In order to simulate discharging, for given in the system we calculate the mass of feeding water discharged from the heat shortage Q tank, corresponding to n2 volumes. All elements are displaced by n2 upwards, and n2 lower elements change their temperature to the return temperature Tr : Due to the displacement, n2 upper elements leave the tank. Information about the temperature of each element leaving B1 according the tank is collected and used for calculation of the momentary peak boiler load Q to Equation (3). In periods when no stored heat is available, the model only calculates the peak boiler load B2 : Finally, values of Q B1 and Q B2 are integrated in order to calculate the total annual heat Q production in the peak boiler QB which is the aim of the analysis. The charging/discharging processes are simulated in the model with the same time step Dt2 as operational data of the co-generation plant are given. The basic operational data are: electrical demand, heat demand, electricity and heat production in the CHP. The operational data are usually given every 15, 30 or (most commonly) 60 min:
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4. THERMODYNAMIC AND ECONOMIC OPTIMIZATION OF THE STORAGE TANK VOLUME A given load characteristic in the joinery presented in Figure 1 has been analysed using the numerical model. A computer programme performs hour-by-hour simulation of the CHP-peak boiler-storage tank system and outputs the annual heat production in the peak boiler QB : By repeating the calculations, the values of QB have been found for dierent tank volumes V : Additionally, values of the storage eciency were calculated basing on denition (5). To optimize the storage tank volume, it is necessary to distinguish between the thermodynamic and the economic optimum. The thermodynamic optimum of the tank volume corresponds to the lowest peak boiler usage QB : V Vopt;t , QB ! min 8 while the economic optimum depends on the choice of an economic object function, like the net present value (NPV) or the discounted pay-back (DPB) time. In this work the economic optimum has been dened as: V Vopt;e , DNPV ! max The economic optimum has been found basing on the following main assumptions:
*

* *

* *

the object function is DNPV}the increase of NPV due to installation of the storage tank, related to the no-heat-storage case; the storage tank lifetime is 15 years, the discount rate is 0.075; the investment cost I0 for a storage tank with equipment is a function of the tank volume I0 806:3V 0:71 ; thermal eciency of the peak boiler is Z 0:9; 3 the fuel for the boiler is natural gas of average price 0:15 USD m n :

Figure 6. Thermodynamic and economic optimum of the storage tank volume.

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Table I. Results of the storage tank volume optimization. Optimal tank volume Thermodynamic V 130 m3 Annual consumption of primary energy MWh year1 CHP Peak boiler Total Storage eciency Z DNPV (USD) DPB (year) Economic V 80 m3 No Heat storage

1287 449 1736 0.94 32 013 4.9

1287 470 1757 0.90 35 127 3.6

1287 843 2130 } 0 }

Results of thermodynamic and economic optimization for the analysed co-generation plant are shown in Figure 6. The thermodynamic optimum of the tank volume is V 130 m3 as it yields the lowest peak boiler usage. The value V 80 m3 is the economic optimum as it provides maximum DNPV value. A comparison of both optima with no heat storage option is made in Table I. As can be seen in Figure 6 and Table I, the economic optimum of the tank volume Vopt;e is lower than the thermodynamic optimum Vopt;t : Values of V lower than Vopt;e yield less DNPV; but a shorter pay-back time (2.3 year for 20 m3 ). For the thermodynamic optimum Vopt;t the value of DNPV is still high, but the pay-back time stretches up to 5 years. Further increase of the tank volume (above Vopt;t ) has neither economic nor thermodynamic reason. Economic feasibility for discount rates of 0.05 and 0.10 is also shown in Figure 6; it can be seen that the location of the economic optimum Vopt;e slightly depends on the value of discount rate.

5. CONCLUSIONS The installation of hot water storage tanks as the heat accumulators in the CHP plants can provide a reduction of energy consumption in the system. The amount of heat lost to the environment in fan coolers of the CHP module is signicantly decreased. The heat storage thus reduces fuel consumption in the peak boiler while the fuel consumption in the CHP unit remains unchanged. Installation of heat storage units is especially advised for electricity-oriented co-generation plants. The level of energy savings depends on the storage tank dimension, which can be optimized using the presented computational model. A thermodynamic and an economic optimum of the tank volume can be found. The economic optimum of the tank volume is lower than the thermodynamic one, which results from a strong relationship between the tank volume and its investment cost. Installation of storage tanks into an existing CHP plant provides good economic feasibility with a pay-back time of about 35 years. For new systems, installation of the heat storage tank allows us to apply a smaller peak boiler with lower investment cost. However, the use of a peak boiler also depends on the size and operational characteristics of the CHP plant. Thus, when planning new co-generation plants, it
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is advisable to optimize simultaneously three main parameters: the CHP electric output, the power of a peak boiler and the storage tank volume in order to maximize the economic feasibility of the system. The presented computational model of a stratied hot water tank was used to analyse the application of heat storage in a sample CHP system working in the Electricity Tracking mode, but this model can be adapted for other operation modes of the CHP or for other applications of heat storage.

NOMENCLATURE A c E H k0 I0 m n Q Q r R t T V Vi y = area (m ) = specic heat capacity (J kg1 K1) = electricity demand or production (W) = tank height (m) = overall heat transfer coecient (W m2 K1) = investment cost (USD) = mass ow rate (kg s1) = number of control volume elements = heat (J) = heat ux (W) = discount rate = thermal resistance (m2 K W1) = time (s) = temperature (K) = storage tank volume (m3) = meshing control volume (m3) = vertical co-ordinate (m)
2

Greek letters a Z l r = heat transfer coecient (W m2 K1) = eciency = thermal conductivity W m1 K1 = density (kg m3)

Subscripts d=p f =r st=ex ch=dch i j k = demand/production = feeding/return water = stored/extracted heat = charged/discharged water = discretization element = adjacent elements = time step
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REFERENCES COGEN Agency Europe. 2001. EDUCOGEN}The European Educational Tool on Cogeneration (2nd edn). Brussels, Belgium. www.cogen.org/projects/educogen.htm Hemzal K, Wurm J. 1994. Generalized assessment of heat-storage accumulators based on exergy proles. Proceedings of 1994 International Refrigeration Conference, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Major G. 1993. Learning from experiences with small-scale cogeneration. CADDET Analyses Series No. 1. Sitard, Netherlands. Minett S. 2003. Cogeneration in Europe. Cogeneration and on-site power production. Review Issue 2002. Skorek J. 2002. Technical and Economic Eectiveness of the Small-Scale Gas Fuelled Co-generation Plants. Wydawnictwo ! la Politechniki S - skiej: Gliwice, 129130 (in Polish). Skorek J, Kostowski W. 2002. Operation model of a storage tank applied to a CHP plant. Proceedings of the 18th Polish Thermodynamic Conference, vol. 3, Muszyna, 10851092 (in Polish).

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Int. J. Energy Res. 2005; 29:177188