Numerical Simulation of Natural Gas Waste Heat Recovery Through Hydrated Salt Particle Desorption in a Full-Size Moving Bed

To achieve energy conservation, emission reduction, and green low-carbon goals for gas storage facilities, it is crucial to efficiently recover and utilize waste heat during gas injection while maintaining natural gas cooling rates. However, existing sensible and latent heat storage technologies cannot sustain long-term thermal storage or seasonal utilization of waste heat. Thermal chemical energy storage, with its high energy density and low thermal loss during prolonged storage, offers an effective solution for efficient recovery and long-term storage of waste heat in gas storage facilities. This study proposes a novel heat recovery method by combining a moving bed with mixed hydrated salts (CaCl2·6H2O and MgSO4·7H2O). By constructing both small-scale and full-scale three-dimensional models in Fluent, which couple the desorption and endothermic processes of hydrated salts, the study analyzes the temperature and flow fields within the moving bed during heat exchange, thereby verifying the feasibility of this approach. Furthermore, the effects of key parameters, including the inlet temperatures of hydrated salt particles and natural gas, flow velocity, and mass flow ratio on critical performance indicators such as the outlet temperatures of natural gas and hydrated salts, the overall heat transfer coefficient, the waste heat recovery efficiency, and the mass fraction of hydrated salt desorption are systematically investigated. The results indicate that in the small-scale model (1164 × 312 × 49 mm) the outlet temperatures of natural gas and mixed hydrated salts are 79.8 °C and 49.3 °C, respectively, with a waste heat recovery efficiency of only 33.6%. This low recovery rate is primarily due to the insufficient residence time of high-velocity natural gas (10.5 m·s−1) and hydrated salt particles (2 mm·s−1) in the moving bed, which limits heat exchange efficiency. In contrast, the full-scale moving bed (3000 × 1500 × 90 mm) not only accounts for variations in natural gas inlet temperature during the three-stage compression process but also allows for optimized operational adjustments. These optimizations ensure a natural gas outlet temperature of 41.3 °C, a hydrated salt outlet temperature of 82.5 °C, a significantly improved waste heat recovery efficiency of 94.2%, and a hydrated salt desorption mass fraction of 69.2%. This configuration enhances the safety of the gas injection system while maximizing both natural gas waste heat recovery and the efficient utilization of mixed hydrated salts. These findings provide essential theoretical guidance and data support for the effective recovery and seasonal utilization of waste heat in gas storage reservoirs.