Silvia Trevisan

KTH Royal Institute of Technology | KTH · Department of Energy Technology (EGI)

The industrial sector is a key global source of wealth, but it is also recognized as a major challenge toward worldwide decarbonization. Today the industrial sector requires more than 22 % of the global energy demand as thermal energy and produces for this about 40 % of the total CO2 emissions. Solutions to efficiently decarbonize the industrial se...

DETECTIVE (Development of a novEl Tube-bundlE-CaviTy lInear receiVEr for CSP applications) is a project that aims at enhancing the overall performance of the current solar parabolic trough collectors. The proposed design focuses on improving such performance by substituting the traditional single metal absorber tube with a tubular bundle whose oute...

This study is a part of the European project "Smart integration of waste and renewable energy for sustainable heat upgrade in the industry (SUSHEAT)" which aims to effectively contribute to the decarbonization of heat demand used in the European industry. To this end, this project proposes an innovative approach that enables a cost-effective, flexi...

The industrial sector is a major source of wealth, producing about one-quarter of the global gross product. However, industry is also a major emitter of CO2 and it represents a key challenge towards achieving the worldwide CO2 emission reduction targets. Nowadays, about 22% of the overall energy demand is heating for the industrial sector, generati...

In the current renewable energy dominated power system, as power production is becoming more and more unpredictable, it would be important to act at two levels: integrating relevant power/energy capacity of energy storage and making demand more controllable. At this purpose, acting on industrial energy demand via integration of energy storage and e...

The present work proposes a methodology that enables decision-making in selecting the adequate power cycle and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) type for a wide range of operating temperatures between 380 and 1200 °C. A broad spectrum of power block configurations has been explored including steam Rankine, gas turbine, supercritical CO2, (sCO2) combined...

The industrial sector is a major source of wealth. However, industry is also a major emitter of CO2 and it represents a key challenge towards achieving the worldwide CO2 emission reduction targets. Nowadays, about 22 % of the overall energy demand is heating for the industrial sector, generating about 40 % of the global CO2 emissions. Additionally,...

The industrial sector is a major source of wealth, producing about one-quarter of the global gross product. However, industry is also a major emitter of CO2 and it represents a key challenge towards achieving the worldwide CO2 emission reduction targets. Nowadays, about 22 % of the overall energy demand is heating for the industrial sector, generat...

High-efficient supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power blocks and the hybridization with solar photovoltaic (PV) plants have been identified as two viable solutions to enhance the economic competitiveness of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. This work introduces an innovative hybrid PV-CSP system layout with molten salt thermal energy storage and a sC...

High-temperature thermal energy storage is recognized to be a key technology to ensure future sustainable energy generation. Packed bed thermal energy storage is a cost-competitive large-scale energy storage solution. The present work introduces the experimental investigation of an innovative 49.7 kWhth radial-flow type high-temperature packed bed...

Ceramic-based packed bed solutions are becoming more common in the energy fields as both thermal energy storage and heat exchanger. Such solutions are usually designed for the working temperature ranges above 600 °C, thus thermal radiation becomes significant and even acts as the dominant heat transfer mechanism. Therefore, applying high-temperatur...

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of a hybrid CSP – PV plant composed of a molten salt tower CSP running a supercritical CO2 power unit and a PV field. The two plants are connected in parallel, behind the meter. The PV unit produces power during daylight. The CSP plant stores thermal energy during the day to enable stable product...

This work presents a laboratory scale 50kWhth prototype of an innovative radial flow packed bed thermal energy storage. The proposed storage has an inward radial heat transfer fluid flow during charge and a reverted fluid flow, by means of a valve arrangement, during discharge. The storage unit is equipped with differential pressure gauges, mass fl...

High-temperature packed-bed thermal energy storage represents an economically viable large-scale energy storage solution for a future fossil-free energy scenario. The present work introduces first-of-a-kind experimental setup of a radial packed-bed TES, and its performance assessment based on experimental investigations. The storage performance is...

High-temperature thermal energy storage could enable widespread exploitation of renewable energy sources, providing the required energy flexibility. Technology and component development is needed to enhance the storage thermo-dynamic performance, and identify key design features. Similarly, system-level integration studies are required to fully und...

Ceramic particles based packed bed systems are attracting the interesting from various high-temperature applications such as thermal energy storage, nuclear cooling reactors, and catalytic support structures. Considering that these systems work above 600 • C, thermal radiation becomes significant or even the major heat transfer mechanism. The use o...

This paper investigates ellipsoid-shaped macro-encapsulated phase change material (PCM) on a component scale. The selected PCM is a paraffin-based commercial material, namely ATP60; differential scanning calorimetry and transient plane source method are used to measure ATP60’s thermo-physical properties. A 0.382 m³ latent heat thermal energy storag...

A novel dual-flow choked nozzle based pressure controller is developed to achieve high-precision pressure control. The primary air flow is mainly used for offering the required mass flow to the test section, and the secondary air flow is used for regulating the total mass flow through the choked nozzle to achieve required pressure levels. The test...

The cavity wall is an important part of a cavity receiver in determining the receiver efficiency. Using solar selective reflector (SSR) materials with low solar absorptivity and high thermal emissivity for the cavity wall design is one efficient way to improve the receiver efficiency. In this work, we present a systematic study of the optical and h...

High temperature thermal energy storages are becoming more and more important as a key component in concentrating solar power plants. Packed bed storages represent an economically viable large scale energy storage solution. The present work deals with the analysis and optimization of a packed bed thermal energy storage. The influence of quasi-dynam...

High-temperature thermal energy storage is becoming more and more important as a key component in concentrating solar power systems and as an economically viable large-scale energy storage solution. Ceramics and natural rocks based packed beds are one of the attracting solutions. For application temperatures above 600 °C, radiation heat transfer be...

The present work assesses the thermodynamic performance of an indirect supercritical CO2 – air driven concentrated solar plant with a packed bed thermal energy storage. A specific focus has been devoted to the flexibility requirements on both air and supercritical loops, highlighting key limitations and challenges that need to be addresses prior fr...

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of an innovative solar-hybrid combined cycle composed of a topping gas turbine coupled to a bottoming packed bed thermal energy storage at the gas turbine exhaust, which runs in parallel to a bottoming steam cycle. Plant performances have been evaluated in terms of the capacity factor, the specif...

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of a purely solar driven combined cycle composed of a solar air receiver directly connected to a topping gas turbine coupled to a bottoming packed bed thermal energy storage at the gas turbine exhaust, which runs in parallel to a bottoming steam cycle. Capacity factor, capital expenditure, and Le...

The present work provides a thorough literature review of the main high temperature sensible and latent materials suitable for a multilayered thermal energy storage system to be integrated into innovative concentrated solar power applications. Furthermore, a thermodynamic comparative analysis of six different multilayered packed-bed thermal energy...

This work presents an innovative indirect supercritical CO 2-air driven concentrated solar power plant with a packed bed thermal energy storage. High supercritical CO 2 turbine inlet temperature can be achieved, avoiding the temperature limitations set by the use of solar molten salts as primary heat transfer fluid. The packed bed thermal energy st...

The present work deals with the initial design and performance evaluation of a novel thermal energy storage concept consisting of a packed bed of rocks with a radial gas flow, suitable for the a generation of air-driven concentrating solar power plants. In doing so, this article also presents a state of the art of most promising packed bed concepts...

The present work deals with the thermodynamic analysis of four different integration schemes for a packed bed thermal energy storage in a Stirling – CSP system. Simplified models for the different systems’ configurations have been developed and analyzed in steady and transient working conditions. Particularly, a parallel and serial connection betwe...

The present work introduces an indirect supercritical CO2–air driven concentrated solar plant with a packed bed thermal energy storage. The proposed plant design enables a supercritical CO2 turbine inlet temperature of 800°C, overcoming the temperature limits imposed by the use of solar molten salts as primary heat transfer fluid. Furthermore, the...