The need for effective & emissions driven technologies to ensure our planets temperature does not rise above 1.5oC, is an imperative action for global governments.
Investment in ‘green’ technologies & R&D of said innovations, has had to become a paramount concern for every country around the globe. However, there are still some areas of scientific engineering development which are yet to be embraced by those in the global emissions reduction’s communities & amongst the general public.
With ‘renewable’ energy production being a necessity for the reduction of global temperatures, we are constantly seeking innovative & progressive technologies to support the human requirements for power generation. With the global fossil fuel energy sources set to peak in 2023, it really is a race against time to ensure sustainable & renewable energies are not only invested in & developed, but that a blended & diverse selection of energy provisions are developed.
‘Cryogenics’ is not a new turn of phrase, yet the applications for which this technology is now being used, is a relatively new & unprecedented concept.
Cryogenics utilises the properties of Liquid Nitrogen which is produced in vast quantities at air separation facilities which liquefy & distil air into nitrogen, oxygen & argon. Liquid Nitrogen is used as a cryogen for a multitude of operations where very low temperatures or rapid temperature reduction is needed, for example food production & freezing, freeze drying & medical sample storage, to name but a few of it’s properties & applications.
One of the areas cryogenics is being harnessed for, is in the energy storage sector. ‘Liquid Air’ technology, for example, works by cooling air to -196oC & therefore turning it into a liquid form. This is then stored at low pressure in insulated tanks & when power is needed the liquid air is pumped to high pressure and heated. The resulting high-pressure gas is subsequently used to power a turbine & generate electricity.
The United Kingdom Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) facility in Manchester, has a capacity of five megawatts & stores 15 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity. This is enough to power about 5,000 average-sized homes for about three hours. A commercial-scale sized plant could have a capacity of 50mw. LAES as a non-polluting option is, as Gareth Brett CEO of Highview Power, which developed the technology. “LAES is arguably the only viable, long-duration, locatable energy storage technology available,” he said. (1)
In addition to the ‘liquid’ air technologies spearheaded by Highview Power, a recent report in Physics World Magazine, explored the role anaerobic digestion & electricity production has in the cryogenics energy framework. Entrepreneur Chris Mann identified that farmers, having fed slurry waste into anaerobic digestors, then burnt the methane they produced, turning it into a less potent carbon dioxide & subsequently generating electricity. ‘That waste inspired Mann to co-found ‘Bennamann’, which develops cryogenic techniques for storing methane so that it can be used to generate energy where and when it is most needed.’ (2)
The alternative renewables market is constantly in need of ground breaking & diverse energy storage solutions. The Dolphin N2 CryoPower split cycle engine has already been making a significant impact amongst energy suppliers & energy generators.
Although originally developed to reduce emissions in haulage & powertrain applications, with up to 90% less engine out emissions, it hasn’t taken the development team long to see the extended uses of the technologies in the renewable energy market.
The introductions of solar & wind farms as a renewable energy source, are of course reliant on the weather & produce sporadic power supplies. The Dolphin N2 CryoPower split cycle engine design, has the capacity to generate energy utilising the liquid nitrogen technologies of the CryoPower engine development. With a Zero emissions imprint & less reliance on energy storage, this form of renewable energy has game changing possibilities for the UK & beyond.
The current power infrastructure uses a largely centralised generation model. Large power stations are used because the scale means that they are more efficient and because the exhaust is easier to treat when coming from one source.
The negative side to this model is that the distribution infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain and the energy lost in this transmission can be between 7 and 12% (4). Cryopower combines improved thermal efficiency and emissions compared to large power stations and maintains these benefits down to a small-scale high-speed engines in the sub 500 kW range. The effect is that small scale power generation becomes advantageous, not just in the conventional ‘off grid island’ situation but also for urban and inner-city sites.
‘The CryoPower combustion system has been demonstrated on Diesel and Natural
Gas, and it is potentially compatible with napthas, ethanol, hythane and hydrogen. The Liquid Nitrogen is already sustainable, as air-separation is a major player in electricity “demand-side management“; as use of renewables rise, it has been shown to be an attractive way of balancing the grid.’ (3)
The use of liquid nitrogen & cryogenics clearly has a place in the global emissions reduction battle & with adequate investment, infrastructure & innovation, we can continue to see the benefits of these advanced globally developed technologies.
Written by Katy-Jane Mason on behalf of Dolphin N2.
Contributions from Benjamin West – Operations Manager, Dolphin N2
- https://www.ft.com/content/fa755eec-67e3-11e8-b6eb-4acfcfb08c11
- https://physicsworld.com/a/cool-innovations-for-clean-energy/
- Simon Brewster, CEO, Dolphin N2 Ltd: [email protected]. Nick Owen, Technical Director, Dolphin N2 Ltd: [email protected]
- ^ Time to Take a Fresh Look at CHP…, Simon Minett, director, DELTA Energy and Environment, October 2005
