Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.
Industrial heat needs between 100C to 250C produce the same amount of CO2 as all of commercial aviation, also near the same as all the automobile and light duty track traffic. While unseen by many, the need rapidly convert these to green, electric heat is imperative.
Industrial heat pumps offer a solution. Through electrification of industrial heat with heat pumps, major energy use and CO2 production cuts can be made (per anum) in Paper Processing (182 PJ/a,20 Mt/a), Chemical Processing (256 PJ/a, 23 Mt/a), Food Preparation (80 PJ/a, 8 Mt/a), and Refineries/Breweries/Distilleries (11 PJ/a, 1.2 Mt/a). Of these, about half require heat pumps of 10 MWt or less, that is they don’t require large industrial systems.
Current heat pumps are basically limited to 200C at most, and their temperature lift (the low temperature heat to be upgraded to higher heat temperature difference is limited to ~100C. Their efficiencies are limited to 45-60% of theoretical maximum (eta_Carnot).
I am developing a new heat pump concept that offers heat up to 250C, lifts up to 200C, and efficiencies 60-80%. – a major step forward, all in a relatively simple system. It is TRL2 at this point, yet with major EU partners as part of Horizon Grants (announced soon), will be rapidly developed towards commercialization. It is also easily developed through Seed funding. While the project will initially focus on industrial heat pumps, it is also well suited for compact heat pumps, that is domestic heat pumps/coolers, and EV heat pumps. Yet those markets are very established and breaking in will take a high TRL system to entice manufacturers, thus later development.
This is my side hustle. I hold the IP, and a good coffee machine.
The demand for petrochemicals is constantly increasing, and the demand for chemical fuels will continue to grow as long as businesses, economies and nations develop and grow.
Fossil fuel prices are increasing, becoming more volatile, more unreliable, more socially unacceptable and causing increased political tensions. Even with continuing electrification, we will still depend heavily on chemical vectors (batteries, e-fuels, e-petrochemicals/petro-products).
Given fossil fuels will have to be phased out, what is the drop-in replacement solution for fossil fuels? Can we overcome the issues and resultant failure of hydrogen adoption, while maintaining the advantages?
Synthetic methanol, is a simple, liquid, infrastructure compatible, bio-compatible, energy dense vector for Hydrogen and is an elegant solution to this problem.
Hydrogen created from renewable electrical energy sources, chemically compressed into methanol, becomes a drop-in replacement everywhere in the current fossil fuel infrastructure. Methanol can also be converted back into Hydrogen simply and safely just before the point of use, for example between a fuel tank and a fuel cell, turbine-boiler or furnace. Synthetic methanol thus can function as both an electrical storage medium, hydrogen storage medium and heat energy storage medium.
Furthermore, methanol is a carbon sink and is one of the few energy vector candidates that removes CO2 from the environment.
Synthetic methanol can also be converted to other hydrocarbons including gasoline and kerosene (jet) fuels, allowing a pivot to a phased introduction of carbon-neutral (or better) fuels.
Diaper Dilemma: Every year, billions of baby diapers pile up, emitting over 3.3Mt of CO2e—enough to fill countless landfills. And every 60 seconds? A staggering 300,000+ diapers are tossed, wreaking havoc on our planet. With an ageing population, adult incontinence products are set to outpace infant diapers by 4-10x, presenting an even greater eco-challenge! Even reusable options fall short, only slightly reducing the environmental impact due to water and energy used in washing.
It's high time for a sustainable solution!
Our Sustainability Crusade: The idea? A cutting-edge recycling technique that breaks down Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHPs) into cellulose and a rich bounty of organic waste. This isn't just recycling; it's a sustainability revolution, turning diaper waste into algae cultivation gold.
From Diapers to Dwellings: Imagine insulating homes with materials born from this eco-friendly process. The concept? Aerogels made from alginate and cellulose harvested from algae fed on recycled diaper waste. Alginate shines as a non-toxic, flame-retardant, biocompatible, and biodegradable wonder—perfect for creating greener homes.
Beyond Insulation - Extended Applications: But why stop there? This technology opens doors to a world of possibilities - from biofuels, fertilisers, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.
Ideally, we're not just addressing waste; we're reimagining resources.
Problem: Balancing the grid as the electrical supply becomes more variable requires using fossil fuel plants to meet peak demands. Electricity demand and variability is set to double by 2050.
Existing solution: Decentralised energy management via devices such as thermostats, energy meters, and human control. Devices operate in isolation with competing priorities. No demand side management.
Proposed solution: Home digital twin enabling energy use optimisation in response to energy price and grid carbon intensity. Occupant achieves savings via cheaper off-peak energy.
Possible extended benefits:
• Targeted insulation/radiator/heat-pump upgrades: Data from digital twin calculates return-of-investment time, per room and per upgrade.
• Peak shaving for the grid: Grid pays for ability to temporarily lower energy usage. See: https://www.voltalis.com/
• Heating-as-a-Service: Accurate energy usage prediction and optimisation enables customers to pay for warmth, not energy. See: https://es.catapult.org.uk/report/ssh2-introduction-to-heat-as-a-service/
• Net-zero-as-a-Service: Ownership of occupants' decarbonisation goals, delivering optimisation and upgrades in line with their personal targets. For first product of this type, see: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/smart-buildings/net-zero-buildings
Key issues:
• Huge variety of languages (communication protocols) used by devices making control difficult. Potential solution in emerging open source platforms enabling an 'energy internet'. See: https://seita.nl/core-technology/flexmeasures/
• Computational cost of optimisation. Non-linear, uncertain processes (I.E. building heat) create mathematically complex problems requiring greater quantities of time, money, and energy to solve. Existing methods involve significant simplifications and optimisation in isolation.
Problem: Stationary batteries are expensive and produced in an unsustainable manner.
Opportunity: They can be used to store intermittent renewable energies and steer away from fossil fuels.
Solution: Lease sodium batteries to energy consuming industrial sites.
Long term opportunity: since you still own the battery, it technically allows you to participate in virtual power plants schemes, do day ahead trading, do grid balancing,...
