What if a new, huge source of energy was discovered, thanks to which we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensure energy stability, and finally effectively strive for sustainable development? Sounds great, doesn’t it?
What if we told you that you could simply REUSE the same energy? Did you know that as much as 20 to 50% of energy produced by industry is lost as waste heat? After all, these are huge amounts of energy on a global scale! Some of it can be used by direct conversion into electricity using a thermoelectric phenomenon called the Seebeck effect. Our researchers in the COTEG project are currently working on it.
Our young researcher Bartosz Bucholc has recently taken part in the 10th Industrial Workshop (IW10): “Advanced Materials for Energy: challenges and opportunities” – the workshops on advanced materials for the energy sector. During the poster session at The Polytechnic University of Turin, he presented the results of research conducted as part of the aforementioned project, in which, together with the team led by Rafał Zybała, PhD, he is developing a series of types of thermogenerators for the recovery of waste heat from industrial installations.
After returning from Turin, we asked Bartosz: “What makes your solution different / better than the existing ones?”, to which he replied:
“It should be noted that the solution we are working on is not yet widely used. Only a few prototypes of such solutions have been developed in Poland so far. What distinguishes our approach, is the comprehensive work involving the synthesis of thermoelectric materials, an innovative approach to module assembly, but also the development and optimization of the entire system including the heat exchanger and converters designed to work with the devices we manufacture. This is possible due to close cooperation with other Łukasiewicz institutes – the Institute for Sustainable Technologies and the Institute of New Chemical Syntheses.”
Such thermogenerators in practice mean numerous benefits for both society and the natural environment. We will improve energy efficiency, minimize the loss of natural resources, and reduce the emission of harmful gases, including CO2. And all of this will contribute to lowering our carbon footprint and improving the quality of life for present and future generations! How do you like this idea?