(406i) Energy Storage Strategies for Integrating Chemical Plants with on-Site Renewable Electricity Generation

Electrification and decarbonization of the chemical industry are the keys to achieving carbon neutrality for human society, which necessitates the transition from the fossil-based chemical industry to the renewable-based chemical industry. To facilitate this transition, it is crucial to integrate renewable energy such as solar and wind energies into chemical processes. However, the intermittent nature of renewable energy requires storage equipment to provide a consistent and stable power supply.

Here, we focus on using on-site solar and wind power plants and energy storage equipment to deal with intermittency in renewable energy for energy-intensive decarbonized liquid fuel production from shale gas. Meanwhile, we analyze different strategies of energy storage, based on local sunlight intensity data, and identify the minimum storage requirement to operate the decarbonized process.

To reduce the storage requirement for the decarbonized process, we propose an energy storage system and build a linear programming model. Different factors have been investigated, including renewable energy curtailment, natural gas turbine, chemical turn-off, power grid connection, renewable mix, and electrolyzer capacity.

Our results provide useful insights into the strategies needed for energy storage volume and associated cost reductions in the context of decarbonized chemical plants. The methodology adopted in this study is general and can be applied to other decarbonized processes during the energy transition.