THE ENERGY TRANSITION CHALLENGE

Promising developments in renewable energy generation such as solar and wind power have led to the creation and increase in need for sustainable storage systems, given that the availability of these sources cannot be guaranteed. The current technologies, providing high-temperature heat applied in industrial processes, cannot always be replaced by green electricity.

The future energy carrier must be compact, free of carbon dioxide emissions, and scalable - iron powder meets all those requirements.

THE METAL FUELS CYCLE

Metal powders can store and release energy in a circular system. When combusting metal powder, energy is released in the form of high-temperature heat. The metal powder itself reacts with oxygen and forms metal oxides (rust). During this reaction, no carbon dioxide or nanoparticles are created. The captured metal oxides, consisting of metal and oxygen, can be separated again through applying sustainable methods such as green hydrogen.

We speak of two processes. Oxidation is the process where the metal powder is burned for energy release, whereas reduction is the process in which the metal oxide is given back its energy by applying sustainable techniques.

THE POWER OF IRON POWDER

HOW TO IDENTIFY METAL AS A FUEL?

PROMISING IRON POWDER PROPERTIES

1. It does not contain carbon in its chemical structure

2. Element reacts with oxygen (combustion)

3. It competes with other available fuels in terms of energy density

4. No toxic, radioactive or dangerous elements are released during combustion

5. Metal oxide reduction must occur without carbon emission

6. The technology must be scalable

1. When combusted, iron powder releases no carbon dioxide emissions since there exists no carbon in iron

2. Because the reaction product particles are larger, they can be captured, which enables circular use of the energy carrier

3. Iron powder is very compact - lots of energy is stored in a small particle

4. Iron powder can be easily and cheaply stored for a long time, without leaks

5. Iron powder is one of the most common elements on earth

MILESTONE MAPPING

1. OFF TO A GREAT START!

In this timeline, we are mapping the technical milestones. The first one is all about the dispersion system, the module that is now finished and ready to be tested. This year’s system will mix iron powder with air, burn the iron powder, use the heat of the flame for steam production, and catch the rust.

The dispersion system is part of this energy storage system. It supplies the system with iron powder and mixes the iron powder with air. To obtain the desired ratio in the mixture, a screw feeder is used, which, as the name implies, ‘fuels’ the system with the iron powder. In a venturi tube, a tube that is narrowed in the middle, the supplied iron powder is mixed with a stream of air.

During the development of the dispersion system, we collaborated with and at the site of EM Group. This went smoothly, yet some technical challenges remained to be tackled. One of these challenges was to increase the supplied amount of iron powder provided by the feeder, which only supplied a third of what was intended. This meant that at first, a flame of only 50kW could be created, instead of the 100 kW we aimed for.

Now that this challenge is tackled, we will connect the dispersion system to the burner, and start testing!

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