Concepts of long-term thermochemical energy storage for solar thermal applications – Selected examples

Scientific research in the field of long-term thermochemical energy storage for low temperature application (e.g. solar thermal systems) has experienced an enormous development in the last decade. In this context the term “thermochemical energy storage” includes chemical storage (e.g. hydration reaction of a salt) and sorption storage (e.g. adsorption and absorption processes). As a positive outcome of the increased research activities, a wide range of storage materials have been investigated, newly developed and are now being applied in thermochemical energy stores. Furthermore, innovative storage concepts have been developed and tested in laboratory or already pilot scale. In this paper, an overview of research activities carried out at different national and international institutions related to long-term thermochemical energy storage for solar thermal applications will be given. In addition, research activities in the field of thermochemical energy storage performed at our institution ITW will be presented in detail.