Transient Behavior of an Ammonia-Based Energy Recovery System

An ammonia thermochemical energy storage system consists of an endothermic reaction that disassociates ammonia into hydrogen using the solar energy, which can be stored for future use. The reverse reaction is carried out in the energy recovery process; the ammonia synthesis reaction is used to heat supercritical steam to temperatures on the order of 650 degrees Celsius as required for a supercritical steam Rankine cycle. The goal of this paper is to investigate the transient response in a synthesis reactor-heat-exchanger. It is desired to predict the time the system takes to reach steady state and the effect a perturbation has on the temperature response of the system. A numerical model has been developed to investigate the transient behavior of an ammonia synthesis reactor-heat exchanger. The model consists of a transient one dimensional concentric tube counter-flow reactor-heat exchanger. The effect of gas mass flow rate and initial gas temperature was investigated. Results show that as gas mass flow rate increases, the time for the outlet steam temperature to reach steady state decreases. For low gas mass flow rates, the required outlet steam temperature is not achieved.