Energy Use and Storage

Question 1

Reducing Industrial Energy Usage

Answer 1

Replace inefficient equipment
Regular equipment maintenance
Product design changes / green design
Turning off equipment when not in use
Electrification
Bioenergy/waste utilization
Business model changes
Steam/heat integration: reuse steam to heat up parts of process that require it
Process intensification

Question 2

Dispatchable Energy

Answer 2

Electricity which can be supplied on demand according to market needs
Too little energy: blackouts, brownout
Too much energy: grid imbalance, potential equipment damage
Examples:
Grid-scale batteries
Hydroelectric
Natural gas
Geothermal
Biomass
Geothermal
Nuclear
Coal
Non-dispatchable:
Wind
Solar
Wave

Supply demand and mismatch
Load shifting: moving electricity consumptions from one time to another (shift demand) - not always possible
Peak shaving: reduce demand when demand is too high - inconvenient for consumers
Energy storage: store excess energy when there is too much and use as needed
Pumped hydro (intermediate energy storage- hours and weeks)
Thermal storage (weeks)
Hydrogen (terrible efficiency but can do seasonal energy storage), flywheels, compressed air
Batteries: fast response time
Lithium Ion: >90% of grid-scale batteries use lithium-ion batteries and this usage is increasing rapidly. It is a finite resource
Extend the life of a Li-battery by regaining the lost capacity through specialised charging processes or use them in new applications such as for stationary power
End of life: valuable elements Lithium, Cobalt etc. but hard to recycle due to fire hazards and different conformations with materials that are not easily separated
Reduce the loading of critical metal in Li-ion batteries: increase the recyclability and reduce cost
Improve distribution of metals in the battery components: increase recyclability
New battery designs or materials: increase capacity and lifetime and recyclability
Alternate chemistries:
Sodium ion: well-developed, low cost and common material that is not considered critical. It has a similar power density but with lower energy density so will be heavy.
Zinc: Very new but common and low cost but again has a low energy density.

Question 3

Alternative Heating Processes

Answer 3

Steel uses a lot of coal

Fuel
Biomass
Geothermal
Electricity
Hydrogen
Solar thermal

Process redesign
Heat integration
Combined heat and power
Low/no heat technologies

Question 4

Regulations & Incentives

Answer 4

Emissions Trading Schemes: Carbon cap & credits

CCUS Vision: £20B UK investment in carbon capture technology, 4 major clusters in UK

Voluntary Product Standard & Embodied Emissions : UK conducting study on effect of embody emissions reporting
Can lead to Mandatory Product Standards w/ maximum embodied emissions

European Green Deal

Still require global cooperation: Pollution havens

Question 5

Excel Industries

Answer 5

Manufacturer of plumbing products in Dublin

Many small projects for energy & waste efficiency:
New compressed air system with better regulation
Solar thermal heaters to make hot water
Process heating is supplied by waste heat concentrated by heat pump
Replace outdoor lights with LED lights
Indoor lighting attached to lighting & occupancy sensors
Water mains isolation valves
HVAC ductwork replacement
Auto-shutoff on welders, plasma cutters, CNC machines when not used

Saved 630MWh of energy annually

Reduced CO2 emissions over 300 tonnes