The consortium explores the materials and components that maximise performance and minimise costs. A wide range of configurations, technologies, salts and solvents have been explored by a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers from the academia and the industry. Two combinations were selected for testing as integrated systems. A RED with membrane distillation and a RED with thermolytic salts and distillation columns for regeneration. Both have been tested in the lab as integrated systems proving the concept of the RED Heat Engine.
At the same time, advanced research and development activities explored options for improving the performance of the system. As part of these activities, new ion exchange membranes have been developed, reaching in the lab power densities at levels never seen before.
The modelling and simulation activities resulted in an optimised design, while providing a platform, where the performance of the system for different configurations and operating conditions can be predicted. The simulation platform has been extensively validated with several experimental activities.
The modelling shows that the best combination is the RED with multiple effect distillation (MED). While this cannot be demonstrated at scaled-down level, the process simulation shows that high efficiencies can be reached. It has been shown that with specific improvements on the membrane composition that are targeted, the conversion of heat that is at 100 degrees C to electricity can be achieved with efficiency of just over 10%.
A detailed cost assessment has also been performed. This has concluded, that when reaching the performance foreseen above with the RED-MED system using improved ion exchange membranes, the levelised cost of electricity will be between 0.04 and 0.05 Euro per kWh. The environmental life cycle assessment concluded that the impacts of the RED-MED heat engine are significantly lower compared to all conventional power generation technologies and lower or at the same level with all renewable energy technologies. Finally, a resource analysis has shown that there are over 480 TWh per year available as waste heat at about 100 degrees C from industry, biogas plants, gas compressing stations and in boats.
In the last phase of the project, a prototype has been constructed, which operated with real waste heat, at the industrial production facility of FUJIFILM, in the Netherlands. This is the first prototype in the world of a RED Heat Engine operating in a real environment.
In terms of dissemination and exploitation:
• More than 3,500 users have viewed the project videos on YouTube
• Over 9,800 relevant stakeholders have been reached through representation at 37 events
• Over 3,600,000 people reached through the coverage of the UNIPA project activities by Italian TV in three separate occasions.
• Twenty-eight scientific papers have been published in high-impact peer reviewed journals.
• There have been interactions with 13 potential end-users, discussing possible next steps in implementing the systems
