
Niche Technologies, Innovative Material
How reusing waste heat can take aluminium one step closer to becoming a greener industry
New waste heat recovery technologies can take the industry one step closer to achieving cleaner production methods. Aluminium is the second most highly produced metal and one of the most recycled commodities in the world. In some industries, over 90% of it is recycled and 75% of aluminium ever produced is still in circulation today. The production of aluminium leaves footprints on the environment that include acidification emissions. Recuperators, air preheaters or heat pumps are some of the alternatives they mention. heat pipes heat exchangers are the heart of the ETEKINA project, which aims to recover more than 40% of of accessible waste heat content in streams lost to atmosphere from energy intensive industries. The process requires such an intensive level of energy that, in the United States, it consumes approximately 5% of all the electricity generated in that country, according to the American Aluminium Association. Most of the processes use high temperatures, which means that a big share of this energy.
Read Full articleFour young scientists talk about the future of waste heat recovery
Scientists in four European countries have been working on the ETEKINA project. They have developed three new heat pipe heat exchangers (HPHE) They aim to recover between 57% and 70% of waste heat streams in three specific sectors.
Read Full articleCalorimeters for thermal propagation research on Lithium-ion batteries
Lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of high energy density, fast charge/discharge ability, no memory effect and low self-discharge. The last step is to prevent the propagation of the thermal runaway from one cell to the neighbouring cells.
Read Full articleNew green tech generates electricity from atmospheric humidity
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have created a device that uses a natural protein to create electricity from moisture in the air. The Air-gen connects electrodes to the protein nanowires in such a way that electrical current is generated from the water.
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