Improvement in Performance of a Thermochemical Heat Storage System by Implementing an Internal Heat Recovery System

A lab-scale prototype of a thermochemical heat storage system, employing a water-zeolite 13X as the working pair, is designed and optimized for providing hot tap water. During the hydration process, humid air is introduced to the packed bed reactor filled with dehydrated zeolite 13X, and the released heat of adsorption heats up the air passing through the reactor. The hot outflow air is led to an air-to-water heat exchanger integrated in a water tank and heats up the water. The residual heat in the exhaust air is used to preheat the reactor inflow in an air-to-air heat exchanger. The temperatures of all system components are measured, and the thermal powers and heat losses are calculated. Experiments are performed in the system with and without using the heat recovery, and improvement in performance of the heat storage system is investigated