Thermal performance study of thermochemical reactor using net-packed method

Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is proving to be a promising option for residential energy storage applications. Many studies have indicated that the pressure drop and heat and mass transfer efficiency of the reactor are two key determinants with TCES technologies. In this paper, net-packed method is used to carry out thermal performance enhancement study for a thermochemical reactor. Compared with and the without net packed methods, copper mesh shows better thermal performance. The copper mesh method of zeolite achieved maximum temperature rise of 38.6 °C, which is 4.4 °C and 2.3 °C higher than that of the non-packed and aluminum mesh, respectively. The pressure drop is reduced by 28.1% and higher water adsorption has been realized. In addition, the energy storage density of 784.4 kJ/kg and thermal efficiency of 38.2% are obtained with the copper mesh. These are 1.6 and 2.4 times the results of the non-packed tests respectively.