Reaction Products in the Combustion of the High Energy Density Storage Material Lithium with Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen
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Reaction Products in the Combustion of the High Energy Density Storage Material Lithium with Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Renate Kellermann1,2, Dan Taroata1, Martin Schiemann2, Helmut Eckert1, Peter Fischer1,2, Viktor Scherer2, Rainer Hock3 and Guenter Schmid1 1 Siemens AG, Corporate Technology – Materials for Imaging and Energy Conversion, Erlangen, Germany 2 Department of Energy Plant Technology, Ruhr University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany 3 Chair for Crystallography and Structural Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University ErlangenNuremberg, Erlangen, Germany ABSTRACT In this work, electrochemically recyclable lithium is analyzed as high energy density, large scale storage material for stranded renewable energy in a closed loop. The strongly exothermic reaction of lithium with carbon dioxide (CO2) yields thermal energy directly comparable to the combustion of coal or methane in an oxygen containing atmosphere. The thermal level of the reaction is sufficient for re-electrification in a thermal power plant compatible process. The reaction of single lithium particles, avoiding particle-particle interactions, is compared to the combustion of atomized lithium spray in a CO2 containing atmosphere. Particle temperatures of up to 4000K were found for the reaction of single lithium particles in a CO2, nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2) and steam gas mixture. Furthermore the combustion of atomized lithium spray in both dry CO2 atmosphere and CO2/steam gas mixture was analyzed. The identified solid reaction products are lithium carbonate, lithium oxide and lithium hydroxide. The formation of carbon monoxide (CO) as gaseous reaction product is demonstrated. Carbon monoxide is a valuable by-product, which could be converted to methanol or gasoline using hydrogen. INTRODUCTION The increase of installed and planned renewable power plants with a geographic, seasonal and weather dependent generation of electricity impels the need of adequate energy storage systems. Furthermore the efficient reduction of CO2 is of high interest, as fossil fuel remains an important energy source for the next decades. In this work, electropositive metals and in particular lithium, are introduced as an alternative for high energy density, large scale energy storage material. According to its position in the standard reduction potential table, lithium can reduce even very low reactive gases like CO2 and nitrogen (N2). The reaction enthalpy of lithium with gaseous CO2 (39 kJ/g) is comparable to the combustion of fossil energy carriers in an oxygen containing atmosphere (coal: 33 kJ/g; methane: 59 kJ/g). Therefore, the conversion of the stored chemical energy into thermal energy can be realized in a power plant compatible combustion (discharging of the energy carrier lithium). Besides the energy released directly from the lithium
reaction, the CO produced acts as an additional energy carrier or as base-material for valuable chemical products like methanol or other hydrocarbons. The solid reaction product, lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) can be recycled electrochemicall
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