Page 42 - European Energy Innovation - winter 2018 publication

42 Winter 2018 European Energy Innovation

COMMUNICATION

“Closing the loop” opens new
opportunities for renewable
power
Commission, the RED Heat-to-Power project brings
A new world record to help the planet together a partnership of corporates, academics and
small, innovative businesses from across Europe; including
The sustainability challenges facing Europe and the whole FUJIFILM which is bringing its membrane technology
world are often defined by what society lacks rather than to the energy sector, REDstack from the Netherlands,
what we waste. the universities of Palermo (UNIPA), Edinburgh (UEDIN)
and Catalunya (UPC) and the Spanish research centre
Rightly, policy makers and campaigners focus on what CIEMAT-PSA. The project is managed by WIP, a trail-blazing
could well be in short supply or even extinction by 2020 or consultancy based in Munich which has been working on
2050, but there is also much to be gained from exploring renewable energy projects for the last 35 years.
what we have but waste right now.
Together, the consortium has developed a game-
Every day, large amounts of primary energy are wasted changing approach to turn this waste of primary energy to
in the form of low temperature heat. This overlooked electricity, achieving world record results.
but valuable resource is simply discarded into the
environment – indirectly, or via cooling facilities at As the graphic below shows, in the RED Heat-to-Power
industrial plants across the European continent. project electricity is generated from salinity gradients
using Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) in a closed-loop
Turning this lost heat – this lost opportunity - into a new, system, with artificial saline solutions being used as
clean source of energy was the driving force behind the working fluids.
RED Heat-to-Power project.
The solutions which exit the RED unit are then
Established in 2015 and funded by the European regenerated using the low-temperature heat to restore the
original salinity gradient, and inspiring the system’s name;
the RED Heat Engine.

The process is powered with Michael Papapetrou, the project coordinator from WIP
artifical solutions that have a said: “The RED Heat-to-Power project has developed the
salinity difference materials, components and know-how required to turn
low grade heat into power, to the point where we now
1 have several prototypes operating in the lab. We have
successfully gone through the proof of concept phase
HIGH SALINITY and are now moving towards optimisation and scale-up,
which means the RED Heat Engine has great potential to
LOW SALINITY contribute to the mix that will form the backbone of the
future energy system.”
RED 2
Electricity is generated from From the last three years, four things stand out about this
salinity gradient using Reverse exciting new project;
Electrodialysis (RED)

The original salinity gradient 3 REGENERATION 1) Competitive electricity generation: The use of artificial
is regenerated by a separation STAGE solutions provides the flexibility to choose the salts and
step using heat at 40-100°C the conditions that maximise the productivity of the
Reverse Electrodialysis process, making it possible to drive
ELECTRICITY costs down.

LOW GRADE HEAT 2) Exploiting widely available low-grade heat: The
system can be installed practically anywhere in the world
INDUSTRY 4 as low-grade heat can come from renewable sources like
The system can be installed at industrial sites, solar or geothermal while most industrial sites also have
where there is need for electricity while waste waste heat availability.
heat is available to power the process
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