Solar driven calcium-looping for thermochemical energy storage system and carbon capture in power and cement industry: A review

Decarbonizing the energy and industrial sectors is critical for climate change mitigation. Solar-driven calcium looping (CaL) has emerged as a promising thermochemical energy storage (TCES) and carbon capture technology, particularly for fossil fuel power plants and energy-intensive industries like cement production. This review comprehensively examines the latest developments and challenges in reactor design, process integration, and system optimization of solar-CaL systems for TCES and the deep decarbonization of the power generation and cement industries. The review discusses recent advancements in reactor designs, including directly irradiated fluidized beds and advanced solid particle receivers, along with enhanced sorbent materials that enhance CaL performance. Additionally, it explores process integration techniques such as heat recovery, storage, and pressure swing approaches to maximize efficiency. Numerical simulation tools, high-temperature experiments, and advanced characterization techniques are considered vital for optimizing receiver-reactor systems by providing insights into particle dynamics, heat transfer, and reaction mechanisms. While encouraging laboratory-scale experiments achieve high reaction rates, conversions, and efficiency, pilot-scale testing under intermittent, realistic operating conditions remains limited. Challenges persist in areas like reactor design, sorbent durability, heat transfer, scalability, and techno-economic feasibility. To address these challenges, the review highlights the importance of multi-scale modeling and pilot-scale demonstrations to enhance system performance and economic viability. The review concludes by highlighting the global momentum for the implementation of solar-driven CaL, with several 100 kW – 1 MW scale pilot facilities demonstrating the growing maturity of the technology. With continued research, development, and deployment efforts, solar-driven CaL holds immense potential to become a leading decarbonization technology for the power generation and cement industry and enable efficient and cost-effective concentrated solar power systems with integrated TCES, paving the way for a sustainable energy future.