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Innovative and sustainable carbon-based composites for high temperature sensible thermal energy storage

Project description

Calcium carbide-based composites: sustainable high-temperature waste heat storage

Storing industrial waste heat for use either as a sustainable heat supply or for electricity production reduces energy consumption and emissions and supports a circular economy model. Affordable solutions allow storage and heat recovery from low temperature sources. However, these are in short supply when it comes to the high temperatures associated with concentrated solar and energy-intensive industries. Funded by the European Research Council, the pioneering STOREHEAT project aims to bridge this gap by leveraging unique calcium carbide-based composites. Preliminary studies suggest that these materials can store much higher temperature heat, and that their production requires far less energy and relies on sustainable resources.

Objective

Although affordable solutions exist to store and recover heat from low temperature sources, the high temperature ones (> 550 °C) such as the concentrated solar and waste heat from high temperature energy intensive industries remain challenging since efficient and affordable storage materials are scarce. The waste heat from these industries is huge and corresponds to 16% (122 Terawatt hours) of the total heat consumption/year in Europe.
STOREHEAT targets the investigation of an outstanding and novel family of High Storage Capacity materials, namely Calcium Carbide-based Composites (3C), for High Temperature Heat Storage. 3C is produced at much lower temperature (1000 – 1200 °C) than the current solutions (1800-2500 °C) based on silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics from fossil source (coke) mainly. 3C is synthesized by carbonization of calcium rich biochar and have not yet been mentioned in the literature neither for high temperature storage nor the mechanism of their formation explored. Preliminary synthesis attempts showed a high temperature storage capacity for 3C of 20% higher than that of SiC while consuming much less energy and using sustainable resources for its production. The scientific breakthrough lies on the counter-intuitive and pioneering approach proposed to combine and stabilize the hierarchical carbon and metal species both from biochar to take advantage of their respective high thermal conductivity and heat capacity at high temperature. This seemingly winning combination, key for effective heat storage has never been done before. To achieve this objective, I propose an ambitious research approach combining in-situ and dynamic experimental methods and modelling to unlock the mechanisms governing the chemical phases assemblage and stabilization of 3C. The storage performance will be evaluated and optimized.
The findings will push a way beyond the frontier of knowledge and broaden research opportunities in scientific communities interested in energy storage.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2023-ADG

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Host institution

INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 494 415,00
Address
19 PLACE MARGUERITE PEREY
91120 Palaiseau
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Essonne
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 494 415,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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