Liquid air energy storage (LAES) integrated into the hydrogen economy – Techno-economic optimization of waste cold recovery from liquid hydrogen regasification

A liquid air energy storage (LAES) system is a promising Carnot battery configuration capable of efficiently recovering waste heat and cold energy carriers. Among these, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) regasification presents a significant opportunity due to its high exergy content and its regasification temperature, which aligns well with the liquid air liquefaction process. While most existing studies focus on integrating LAES with liquid natural gas (LNG) regasification or improving hydrogen liquefaction via liquid air regasification, this work takes a novel approach by enhancing liquid air liquefaction through the utilization of waste cold from LH₂ regasification. Additionally, this study explores an economic innovation, the valorization of clean dry air discharged by LAES, which has not been extensively examined in prior literature. A novel LAES configuration is proposed and subjected to a techno-economic analysis, comparing its performance with a stand-alone LAES system. Results show that the proposed integration increases round-trip efficiency by 15 %, reduces the levelized cost of storage by 60 %, and achieves a payback period of under 10 years. These findings provide valuable insights for both academia and industry, advancing the development of more efficient and economically viable LAES systems. • A novel LAES system aiming to efficiently recover the waste cold from liquid hydrogen regasification is investigated. • Clean dry air commodity is introduced as a novel potential revenue for LAES. • A comprehensive techno-economic optimization is carried out. • The novel solution effectively improves the round-trip efficiency by 15 %. • The levelized cost of storage is significantly decreased by 60 %.