Sustainability has been one of the major topics in the industrial industry for a few years now. Plants are constantly looking for ways to improve their energy efficiency and impact on the environment. Due to this push, researchers in the industry are working on new ways to use byproducts generated during production processes. The next initiative might be turning waste heat into energy and also water.
Researchers have been studying this area for decades, but the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has made some interesting strides in the field.
Recently reported on by Alexis Gajewski, editor at Plant Services, research on reclaiming waste heat began at TNO in the Netherlands. The institute, which strives to convert academic research into real-life applications, developed a prototype called ‘MemPower’ (simultaneous production of water and power), but due to a lack of funding, the project was transferred to researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Below is an excerpt from her blog post:
According to Steinar Brandslet for Norwegian SciTech News, Norwegian industry produces 20 TWh of waste heat each year, which is equivalent to half of all the energy consumed by Norwegian households. Most of this heat is released into the air or the ocean, but there might be a new way to utilize this resource.
The NTNU team recently published a paper titled "Thermo-osmotic coefficients in membrane distillation: Experiments and theory for three types of membranes," which outlines how waste heat can be converted into mechanical energy based on differences in temperature. Basically, the process uses thermal osmosis, which occurs when water on one side of a membrane is heated, evaporates, and releases heat on the other side through condensation. A pressure difference is then created, which represents mechanical energy that can be used to generate power.
