Compressed air storage

Figure 2.48. Types of underground compressed air storage (a) storage in salt cavity, (b) rock storage with compensating surface reservoir and (c) aquifer storage (from B. Sorensen, Renewable Energy, 2004, used with permission from Elsevier).

Compressed Air Storage - The storage of compressed air in a container for use to operate a prime mover for electricity generation. 

Pumped storage power stations for instance are most efficient beyond dispute, but have their geological restrictions. Besides them compressed air storages and certainly batteries are evaluated. 

In order to supply breathable air to the occupants of the main control room, the main control room habitability system is composed of compressed air storage tanks, two air delivery flow paths, associated valves, piping, and corresponding instrumentation. The tanks contain enough breathable air to supply the required air flow to the main control room for at least 72 hours. The main control room habitability system is designed to maintain CO2 concentration less than 0.5% for up to 11 main control room occupants (see Section 6.4.1.1 of Reference 6.1). 

Compressed Air Storage with Humidification (CASH) Goal Gasification Power Plant Investigation. Palo Alto, California Electric Power Research Institute, September 15, 1991, EPRI GS-7453S. 

IG-CASH injected gas compressed air storage with air humidification... 

Sulfur and Chlorine Pipelines. Underground sulfur is melted by superheated water and then piped as Hquid to the surface with compressed air. At the surface, molten sulfur is transported by heated pipeline to a storage or shipping terminal. One such pipeline, located under 15 m of water in the Gulf of Mexico, is insulated and surrounded by steel casing to which are strapped two 130-mm dia pipelines that carry return water from the deposit. The superheated water is carried from shore to the deposit in a 63.5-mm dia pipe inside the pipeline that carries the molten sulfur (21). 

Utilities and yard services (boiler plant, refrigeration, compressed air, water supply and treatment, effluents, fire protection, yard piping, yard electrical, yard materials handling, raw and finished-product storage)... 

The cost of the filter station includes not only the installed cost of the filter itself but also that of all the accessories dedicated to the filtration operation. Examples are feed pumps and storage facihties, precoat tanks, vacuum systems (often a major cost factor for a vacuum filter station), and compressed-air systems. The dehvered cost of the accessories plus the cost of installation of filter and accessories generally is of the same order of magnitude as the dehvered filter cost and commonly is several times as large. Installation costs, of course, must be estimated with reference to local labor costs and site-specific considerations. 

The compressor train is driven by the motor/generator, which has a pair of clutches that enable it to act as a motor when the compressed air is being generated for storage in the cavern, declutches it from the expander train, and connects it to the compressor train. The compressor train consists of a three-section compressor each section having an intercooler to cool the compressed air before it enters the other section, thus reducing the overall compressor power requirements. 

Figure 2-34. Schematic of a compressed air energy storage plant. (ASME Technical Paper 2000-GT-0595).

Holden, P., Moen, D., and DeCorso, M., Alabama Electric Cooperative Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) Plant Improvements, ASME Paper No. 2000-GT-0595. 

Vehicles make deliveries of oil fuels by road with capacities ranging from 11,800 to 28 700 liters (2600 to 6300 gallons). The vehicles discharge fuel into customers storage by pump or compressed air at rates up to 1050 liters (230 gal) per minute, and can deliver to a height of 10.7 meters (35 ft) above the vehicle. 

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