DISTRICT HEATING
Sunamp thermal batteries going mobile
Sunamp Ltd. is part of a consortium formed to collect waste heat from industries along the River Thames, store it in Sunamp thermal batteries and transport it via barge to major heat consumers, such as district heating networks.
The batteries, which use a salt-based phase change material, will be housed in specially designed shipping containers. The other members of the Thames Mobile Heat Consortium are Sheen Parkside, an arranger of low-carbon infrastructure projects, and Cory, a waste management and recycling company that operates a waste-to-energy plant on the Thames.
One potential consumer is the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking, the oldest heating district in the United Kingdom, supplying over 3,000 homes and 50 commercial and community buildings. It is owned and operated by the Westminster City Council.
“By harnessing the power of large-scale thermal batteries, we are not just transporting waste heat; we are delivering a global solution to the pressing challenge of our time – the decarbonisation of heat,” said William Edrich, global head of C&I at Sunamp.
IN BRIEF
• The self-heating concrete under development at Drexel University in Pennsylvania has moved out of the lab and into real-world conditions. Researchers say their PCM-laden concrete mixes performed well in outdoor tests, melting snow and ice for up to 10 hours. “We have demonstrated that our self-heating concrete is capable of melting snow on its own, using only the environmental daytime thermal energy – and doing it without the help of salt, shoveling or heating systems,” said Amir Farnam, principal investigator at Drexel’s Advanced Infrastructure Materials lab, in an interview with New Atlas.
• In a LinkedIn post, Dr. Luisa F. Cabeza of the University of Lleida, Spain, writes: “We are conducting a research on technology acceptance and I would be very happy if you can help us, it will take only 5-10 minutes!!” You can fill out the questionnaire here: https://forms.gle/adQtxYxpE22vhNqq8.
• The RAL Quality Association PCM‘s next general assembly will be held April 9 at the University of Barcelona. Professors Inés Fernández of the University of Barcelona and Luisa F. Cabeza, right, of the University of Lleida will give presentations.
• Scientists are investigating how sulfur cycles can be used to hold solar thermal energy that can be released when needed. “Sulfur’s energy density is so much higher than that of molten salt, and also you get high-value heat,” DLR Institute of Future Fuels research head Christian Sattler said in an interview with SolarPACES. “You have a very cheap storage medium in the sulfur, and since we propose chemical combustion, you can adjust the temperature to whatever temperature level you need.”
• Andrew Bissell, CEO and co-founder of Sunamp, welcomed the appearance of a new heat battery from Midea Group at a Milan trade show in March. “I was really excited to discover that we’ve got a really, really big company that has developed their own really similar heat battery,” he said at MCE Mostra Convegno Expocomfort. He sees the Midea battery not as competition, but rather as validation that such technology is ready for prime time.
• BIOBUILD, the Horizon Europe group working to develop bio-based building materials to reduce energy use, has launched its website, bio-build.eu. One of the projects is the development of a wallboard that combines fungi with biobased phase change material. The fungi, mycelia, is grown on bio-PCM impregnated fibers, acting as a binder in the novel bio-composites. BIOBILD says the wallboard has enhanced thermal efficiency, uses European-sourced materials and is safe and sustainable.
• TIME magazine has recognized Yotta Energy of Austin, Texas, as one of America’s Top Greentech Companies for 2024. Yotta’s SolarLeaf, a 1-kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery designed to be paired with rooftop solar panels, is equipped with phase change material to manage excess heat.
• Va-Q-tec AG, Würzburg, Germany, has appointed World Cargo Srl as its official distributor in Italy. Va-Q-tec says the pharmaceutical logistics service provider, with offices in Rome and Milan, “is well placed to provide our cutting-edge thermal packaging solutions to the Italian market, focusing on our parcel shippers.”
• Singapore-based Sun Ice Energy has built a small proof-of-concept ice rink 100% powered by solar panels. Skating magazine explains the concept: “Panels on a skating rink’s roof capture the sun’s energy, which is transferred to a standard hybrid inverter. That energy is used to power a standard rink chiller that cools the glycol solution — 50% water and 50% glycol — before transferring the solution to a network of pipes in close contact with [PCM-filled plastic containers] four inches thick. The containers are laid inside the ice rink floor, between an insulating material XPS layer and the concrete floor supporting the ice sheet. … When solar panels are placed across the entire roof of a skating arena, less than half of that power is required to charge the Sun Ice PCM system. With roughly three hours of sun per day, the energy that is produced is stored to maintain the desired latent temperature of the PCM. The stored PCM-stable temperature in the containers will last for several days without having to be recharged.” The company says it recently incorporated the same technology in a small rental villa in Bali, Indonesia.
• Cold Chain Technologies LLC, a thermal packaging provider based in Franklin, Mass., and German-based Cellbox Solutions GmbH, a provider of live cell logistics solutions for research, development and shipment of cell-based therapies and cellular diagnostics, have announced an agreement to expand the use of Cellbox solutions in the United States.
PATENTS
Non-flammable coating loaded with microcapsules encapsulating a flammable phase change material
U.S. patent 11920048 (applicant Microtek Laboratories Inc., Dayton, Ohio):
“Non-flammable structures are disclosed that have a substrate and a layer applied to the substrate that includes a phase change material that is flammable. The layer includes a binder having mixed therein about 50% to about 90% by weight of a microencapsulated phase change material and about 0.5% to about 10% by weight of an inorganic flame retardant. The inorganic flame retardant has a volume that increases upon exposure to heat or a flame. The binder is selected from the group consisting of a polyurethane, a styrene acrylic copolymer, a styrene butadiene copolymer, acrylic and combinations thereof.”
Green thermal energy storage system
U.S. patent application 20240093950 (applicant Holtec International, Camden, N.J.):
“A green boiler includes a thermal energy storage vessel containing a captive bed of a thermal mass composition operable to store thermal energy, an array of heaters embedded in the mass, and at least one heat exchanger comprising a tube bundle. The heaters in one embodiment may be electric and coupled to an electric power source to heat the thermal mass. The tube bundle comprises tubes embedded in the thermal mass composition which are configured to convey heat transfer fluid (e.g., water or other) through a tube-side of the tubes. In operation, the heat transfer fluid is heated by absorbing stored thermal energy from the thermal mass composition. The thermal mass composition may be heated by power extracted from the power grid during off-peak demand periods in some embodiments. The vessel may produce heated water or steam for district heating, or steam for power generation or industrial uses.”
Phase change composite and preparation method
“The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of power batteries, and in particular relates to a phase change composite and a preparation method and use thereof. The phase change composite includes the following components in parts by weight: 50 parts to 70 parts of a phase change material (PCM), 10 parts to 20 parts of a maleic anhydride graft, 1 part to 5 parts of a thermal conductivity enhancer, and 15 parts to 30 parts of a flame retardant; where the flame retardant includes melamine and triphenyl phosphate. The phase change composite has flame retardancy, high latent heat, and great thermal conductivity.”
More U.S. patents and patent applications:
Light, thin, warm-keeping and temperature-adjusting modified polymer aerogel composite material (Sycortec CAS Co. Ltd., Beijing, China) | Thermal energy storage system (D’arcy Mann, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) | Systems and methods for managing thermal energy (Phasestor LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina) | Power plant system (Terrestrial Energy USA Inc., Charlotte, North Carolina) | Microcapsule clusters (Encapsys LLC, Appleton, Wisconsin)
RESEARCH ROUNDUP
From Journal of Energy Storage:
• Microencapsulated phase change material/wood fiber-starch composite as novel bio-based energy storage material for buildings
• Study of paraffinic and biobased microencapsulated PCMs with reduced graphene oxide as thermal energy storage elements in cement-based materials for building applications
• Preparation and thermal properties of sodium carbonate decahydrate as a novel phase change material for energy storage
• Synergizing environmental and technological advances: Discarded transmission oil and paraffin wax as a phase change material for energy storage in solar distillation as a step towards sustainability
From Energies:
• An Economic Analysis of Energy Saving and Carbon Mitigation by the Use of Phase Change Materials for Cool Energy Storage for an Air Conditioning System—A Case Study
• Studying the Improvement of Solar Collector Mechanism with Phase Change Materials
• Usage of Microencapsulated Phase-Change Materials to Improve the Insulating Parameters of the Walls of Refrigerated Trailers
From Materials Science Forum:
• The Modification of Thermal Conductivity of Phase Change Material Using Nano Metal-Oxide Particles
From Journal of Cleaner Production:
• A review on preparation, thermal transport properties, phase-change characteristics, and thermal stability of molten salts
• Valorization of coconut peat to develop a novel shape-stabilized phase change material for thermal energy storage
From Case Studies in Thermal Engineering:
From Food Packaging Materials:
• Thermal Performance of Food Packaging Containing Phase Change Materials
From Journal of Building Engineering:
From Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering:
• Performance Evaluation of Concrete Containing Fatty Acids as a Medium of Thermal Energy Storage
From Energy Storage:
• Bio-based lamb tail fat phase change material with enhanced thermal properties by incorporation of cyclophosphazene additives
• Research progress of direct contact heat storage based on phase change heat storage
From Heat Transfer:
From Thermal Science and Engineering Progress:
From Construction and Building Materials:
From Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells:
From Journal of Surfactants and Detergents:
From International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer:
NETWORKING
Connect with PCM experts and industry leaders on LinkedIn
More than 1,800 people have joined a LinkedIn group devoted to the discussion of phase change material and thermal energy storage. You are invited to join the Phase Change Matters group and connect with PCM and TES experts from around the world.
This month we welcome Weiqi Ji, senior scientist at Bosch USA, Sunnyvale, Calif.; Emmanuel Coutaux, innovation development manager, Ariamis Engineering, Paris, France; William Edrich, global head of C&I at Sunamp Ltd., Bristol, U.K.; and Charbel Habchi, mechanics and thermal hydraulics analysis engineer at Framatome Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia.
Reuben Barker, senior architect at AECOM, posted this request in March:
Dear all, my team are developing Horizon Europe funding proposals, so if you would be interested to develop and demonstrate PCMs within buildings as a way of supporting thermal comfort, then please get in touch. The PCMs need to meet the following criteria:
• Good circular / environmental credentials when assessed through LCA.
• Potential to achieve cost competitiveness by the end of the 4-year project.
The projects will begin in 2025 and end in 2028 or 2029.
NEWS TIPS
Does your company, agency or university have a job opening, new research, new product or other news you’d like to share? I would love to hear from you. Please contact newsletter editor Ben Welter at benedict.welter@gmail.com.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
This newsletter is made possible through the generous support of the RAL Quality Association PCM and the members listed below. To learn more about the association, including membership benefits, please contact Stefan Thomann, executive director, at pcm@kellencompany.com.
Axiotherm GmbH | B Medical Systems | Croda International Plc. | ISU Chemical Co. Ltd. | RuhrTech | Microtek Laboratories | PCM Technology | PLUSS Advanced Technologies | PureTemp LLC | Rubitherm Technologies GmbH | Sasol Germany GmbH | S.Lab Asia Inc. | Sunamp Ltd. | va-Q-tec AG