RTE

The round-trip efficiency, as with all energy storage technologies, is the parameter that
represents the LAES system's ability to recover as much of the input energy as possible. The round-trip
efficiency of a LAES system is the ratio of electric energy consumed for creating liquid air to electric
energy generated (or saved) during liquid air discharge. One of the significant disadvantages of LAES
systems is their low round-trip efficiency (RTE). The liquids' cooling process and the expansion of air in
the turbine during power generation are inefficient and result in a low RTE.

While large-scale LAES benefits from well-established procedures and components, the overall
performance (RTE) of smaller-scale LAES is lower than that of CAES due to the inefficiency of the
liquefaction process. Therefore, current LAES research and development is focusing on the challenges
related to small scale LAES applications, such as finding the optimal liquefaction cycle configurations, and
fine tuning the system thermodynamics.

Both Sciacovlelli et al. ‘s and Chai et al. studies indicate that cold storage is key to achieving an
adequately high RTE [1] [2]. To improve the energy efficiency of LAES, researchers have explored the use
of different materials as a cold energy storage medium. Guo et al [3] experimented with a packed bed
cryogenic regenerator that utilizes a solid cold storage medium to store the cold energy, which is then
used to reduce the work required to liquefy air during the charging cycle. Bian et al [4] investigated the
use of a dynamic cold storage packed bed, which stores the cold energy from liquid air evaporation in
the air liquefaction process and is more suitable for real-world application due to its simplicity and
reliability. While the integration of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) in LAES
systems could improve their efficiency, much work remains to be done to improve RTE. Other studies
that enable to improved RTE with the use of LNG and ORC can be seen at the case studies and
configurations part of this review paper.

All research agreed on the importance of employing excess heat of compression and cold/hot
exergy from an external source to improve LAES power recovery efficiency. And also, for the LAES system
in general, it is clear that the recycling of both cold and hot exergy will be critical for the advancement of
LAES technology for deployment at large scale. Both the ORC and VCRC systems can be viable methods
of increasing ORC power output and thus LAES RTE which is similar to configuration of cold storage.

References

[1] A. Sciacovellia, D. Smitha, H. Navarro, Y. Li and Y. Ding, "Liquid air energy storage – Operation and
performance of the first pilot plant in the world," in PROCEEDINGS OF ECOS 2016 - THE 29TH
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EFFICIENCY, COST, OPTIMIZATION, SIMULATION AND
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ENERGY SYSTEMS, PORTOROŽ, SLOVENIA, 2016.

[2] L. Chai, j. Liu, L. Wang, L. Yue and L. Yang, "Cryogenic energy storage characteristics of a packed bed
at different pressures," Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 439-446, 2014.
[3] L. Guo, W. Ji, Z. Gao, X. Fan, J. H, L. C. and J. Wang, "Study on the selection method of solid cold
energy storage medium for liquid air energy storage," IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and
Engineering, vol. 1240, 2021.

[4] Y. Bian , C. Wang , Y. Wang and R. Qin, "The Effect of Dynamic Cold Storage Packed Bed on Liquid Air
Energy Storage in an Experiment Scale," Energies, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 36, 2022.