Thermolytic reverse electrodialysis heat engine: model development, integration and performance analysis

Abstract Salinity gradient heat engines represent an innovative and promising way to convert low-grade heat into electricity by employing salinity gradient technology in a closed-loop configuration. Among the aqueous solutions which can be used as working fluid, ammonium bicarbonate-water solutions appear very promising due to their capability to decompose at low temperature. In this work, an experimentally validated model for a reverse electrodialysis heat engine fed with ammonium bicarbonate-water solutions was developed. The model consists of two validated sub-models purposely integrated, one for the reverse electrodialysis unit and the other for the stripping/absorption regeneration uni…