Tyndall researchers at UCC lead €3m sustainable energy project
A new research project bringing together experts in materials research, modelling, cell fabrication, thermoelectricity, and electronics, is aiming to develop new materials and systems to convert thermal power to electricity conversion.
Inferno, a Horizon Europe funded project is being led by Dr. Kafil M. Razeeb at Tyndall National Institute in collaboration with Technological University Dublin, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, IFW Dresden, Universite de Technologie de Troyes and F6S.
Global energy-intensive, high-temperature processing industries such as cement, steel and glass are losing more than 50% of their energy as waste heat during production. This amounts to approximately 400 TWh of power each year, which is almost one seventh of the total European electrical power demand.
Despite the availability of technologies to convert waste heat into electricity, the adoption of these solutions at an industry scale has been poor.
The new effort targets improvements in infrared-sensitive low bandgap thermophotovoltaic cells, photonic metamaterials, as well as thermoelectric generators made of earth-abundant materials. Thermophotovoltaics is the direct conversion of radiant power into electricity using the photovoltaic effect, whereas thermoelectrics uses temperature gradient into electricity using Seebeck effect.
This development will allow this new waste heat recovery system to operate over a wider range of temperatures, from 400-800°C, at least 25% more efficiently than the current state-of-the-art systems.
The Inferno project will deploy a modular, hybrid energy harvesting system that can be easily integrated into production lines, helping hard-to-decarbonise industries improve their system efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Three pilot demonstrations in Ireland, Germany and France will test the integrated hybrid system and its components.
Dr Kafil M. Razeeb, Advanced Energy Materials Group, Tyndall, said: “Our aim is to develop a system combining different thermal to electrical energy harvesting technologies, which will be tested in real industrial setup. We hope to deploy a system that can be cost-effectively retrofitted and integrated for electricity production from industrial waste heat.”
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