Session: 09-01 Compressed / Liquid Air Energy Storage

Submission Number: 177543

Implementation of LAES With LNG Energy Recovery for Enhanced Renewable Energy Storage 

As the global energy transition accelerates, large-scale energy storage technologies are becoming essential to ensure grid reliability and to support industrial competitiveness especially due to the increase in renewable penetration. Conventional systems, such as batteries or pumped hydro, remain constrained by scalability or site dependence, motivating the scouting of alternative solutions. This paper explores the integration of Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) technology within the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) value chain, aiming to address the dual need of energy efficiency and decarbonization in large-scale gas facilities. This study was conducted by integrating Aspen Plus® process simulations, high level cost evaluation, and CO₂ emission estimate, related to LNG regasification stage. The work specifically investigates the potential integration of LAES through two alternative configurations, focusing on their application in greenfield projects. Full regasification solution, meant to replace the traditional vaporization step by integrating a LAES system that provides both the regasification duty and the associated energy recovery for over 52% of Round-Trip Efficiency (RTE). Maximum efficiency solution, meant to maximize the storage performance, integrating the traditional vaporizers, by exploiting the cold energy of LNG, the system achieved over 57% of RTE, compared to ~50% for stand-alone LAES plants. From an economic perspective, the cost of electricity with a solution combining PV and LAES is still more than 80% higher than Italian day-ahead market price, representing the major barrier to immediate deployment. Nevertheless, in both cases, the integration consistently reduces CO₂ emissions up to 70% with respect Italian grid energy mix in 2022. It must be emphasized that, despite the current techno-economic challenges, this solution could also provide the opportunity to integrate direct air capture (DAC) with only a marginal cost increase compared to the uncaptured configuration. This is particularly relevant because the process already requires an air purification stage, during which a high-purity CO₂ stream can be recovered and captured, leading to further potential synergies in the effort of decarbonizing industrial assets. Overall, this study reveals that integrating LAES in the LNG value chain represents a technologically viable and environmentally advantageous route toward greater sustainability. Although current economic competitiveness, still requires efforts to achieve a sustainable cost, the expected advances in efficiency and capital costs reductions are likely to outline LAES as a relevant contributor for the sector. Further research is still ongoing and will focus on improving process design, validating performance at scale, and integrating LAES with complementary low-carbon technologies to fully realize its industrial and environmental potential.

Presenting Author: Alex Spadafora Eni S.p.A. – Research and Technological Innovation

Presenting Author Biography: Alex Spadafora is currently working as an R&D engineer and problem solver in Eni’s Upstream Division in San Donato Milanese (Italy). Born in 1996 in Cosenza (Italy), holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering. He is contributing to the development of initiatives focused on CO2 emissions reduction, process efficiency improvement, and CCS. Currently, his effort focuses on energy storage solutions and their potential to decarbonize and enhance RES operational flexibility in upstream activities, supporting the company’s net-zero target.

Authors:

Alex Spadafora Eni S.p.A. – Research and Technological Innovation
Marco Astolfi Politecnico di Milano
Luca Chiarabaglio Eni S.p.A. – Research and Technological Innovation
Luca Dal Forno Eni S.p.A. – Research and Technological Innovation