L R AS Published on Saturday 18 April 2020 - n° 318 - Categories:placing on the market
A heat storage system
The Argonne National Laboratory (USA) has developed a technology to capture waste heat from industrial facilities (TESS).
Many processes that produce electricity also produce heat,
a powerful energy resource that is usually untapped in factories, vehicles, power plants, ... In a combustion process, about 60% of the energy is wasted in the form of heat.
These scientists have developed a system to capture and store excess heat from the installations. It is also suitable for a variety of commercial applications, including desalination plants, combined heat and power (CHP) systems, industrial processes, trucks, ...
The ability to recover and use waste heat increases efficiency and reduces costs by extracting energy from the same amount of fuel.
In a sense, it is a thermal version of a battery. It charges and discharges heat rather than electricity. The process is a form of latent heat storage, where the energy is contained in a phase change material such as molten salt.
The technology is modular, so there is no need for a huge storage structure. It operates at temperatures above 700°C (1,292°F). Its high energy density makes it smaller and more flexible than commonly used sensible heat storage systems, which depend on the rise and fall of a material's temperature.
Researchers are already offering to license or partner in the use of this technology (partners@anl.gov).
EnergyTrend of 16 April
