Search results for "Low-grade heat"

The first operating thermolytic reverse electrodialysis heat engine

2020

Abstract Thermolytic reverse electrodialysis heat engine (t-RED HE) has been recently proposed as a technology for converting low-temperature waste heat into electricity. The construction and operation of the first world lab-scale prototype unit are reported. The system consists of: (i) a reverse electrodialysis unit where, the concentration gradient between two solutions of thermolytic salts is converted into electricity and (ii) a thermally-driven regeneration unit where low-temperature heat is used to restore the initial conditions of the two feed streams. Regeneration is based on a degradation process of salts into gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide, which can be removed almost entirely…

REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS HEAT ENGINE: Low-grade Waste Heat into Electricity

Our society is undergoing a progressive change about the life style and habits. The world population is continuously increasing with 7.6 billion of human beings in 2018, resulting in an increasingly demand of resources in terms of food, water and energy. The exploitation of the planet resources since the first Industrial Revolution, results today in an unsustainable condition, which requires fundamental changes. In particular, in the energy sector the adoption of fossil fuels as the main energy source for human beings’ activities resulted in a strong impact on our planet, leading to climate changes and environmental pollution. Nowadays these aspects have induced society to a substantial cha…

Resource, environmental and economic considerations in the development of a Reverse Electrodialysis Heat Engine

The RED Heat Engine operates as a closed-loop RED system, where limited amounts of artificial saline solutions are used as working fluids. The solutions exiting from the RED unit are regenerated by means of a separation step, which uses low-temperature heat as its energy source. Essentially the system converts low-grade heat to electricity. There are two main alternative regeneration strategies: (i) extract solvent from the high salinity solution and move it to the low salinity solution or (ii) extract salt from the low salinity solution and move it to the high salinity solution. In this thesis are considered the Multi-effect distillation (MED) and the Membrane Distillation (MD) under the s…