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NREL's ENDURING sand battery, storing heat at 1200 C in quartz sand. Round trip efficiency using turbines is estimated at ~53%.

https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/07%20D...

The IP has been licensed by Babcock and Wilcox, who are the source of the nifty compact fluidized bed heat exchanger.



It's an interesting concept. Cheap. Doesn't take up a lot of space. Could be driven by a solar furnace.

My concern is whether the cyclone particle separator will do a good enough job - gas turbine blades don't like being blasted with grit. I expect they'd need a heat exchanger to be sure to get only clean gas driving the turbines.


> Could be driven by a solar furnace.

Perhaps more interestingly, it could be driven by combustion of an e-fuel as a backup in case the sand becomes depleted.


> Cheap.

Until patents are involved




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