By Ashwini Sakharkar 3 Aug, 2024
Collected at: https://www.techexplorist.com/bronze-age-technology-offers-cost-effective-way-store-heat/86833/
Cutting-edge research from Stanford suggests that technology dating back to the Bronze Age could help us reach the UN climate goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Stanford researchers have discovered that utilizing “firebricks” composed of the same materials used to insulate iron-making furnaces thousands of years ago is an economical method for storing heat to be utilized in industrial operations.
By using heat-absorbing bricks to store renewable energy, industries like cement, steel, glass, and paper production can operate using sustainable energy sources even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. These innovative systems are already being commercialized based on ancient principles and offer a promising path toward a greener future.
“The difference between firebrick storage and battery storage is that firebricks store heat rather than electricity and are one-tenth the cost of batteries,” said lead study author Mark Z. Jacobson. “The materials are much simpler, too. They are basically just the components of dirt.”
The manufacturing industry relies on high-temperature heat for production. Factories require temperatures of at least 1,300 degrees Celsius (nearly 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit) to produce cement and 1,000 C (about 1,800 F) or hotter for glass, iron, and steelmaking.
Currently, approximately 17% of global carbon dioxide emissions result from burning fossil fuels for industrial heat generation. Jacobson and co-author, Daniel Sambor’s calculations, suggest that transitioning industrial heat production to renewable sources could effectively eliminate these emissions.
“By storing energy in the form closest to its end use, you reduce inefficiencies in energy conversion,” said Sambor, a postdoctoral scholar in civil and environmental engineering. “It’s often said in our field that ‘if you want hot showers, store hot water, and if you want cold drinks, store ice’; so this study can be summarized as ‘if you need heat for industry, store it in firebricks.’”
The researchers conducted a comprehensive study to analyze how the widespread use of firebricks for storing industrial process heat could impact 149 countries in a hypothetical future where all energy needs are met by wind, geothermal, hydropower, and solar sources. These 149 countries collectively account for 99.75% of global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
“Ours is the first study to examine a large-scale transition of renewable energy with firebricks as part of the solution,” Jacobson said. “We found that firebricks enable a faster and lower-cost transition to renewables, and that helps everyone in terms of health, climate, jobs, and energy security.”
The team conducted a comprehensive analysis using computer models to compare the impact of two scenarios involving the use of renewables for all energy purposes across 149 countries in 2050. In one scenario, firebricks were utilized to provide 90% of industrial process heat, while the other scenario involved zero adoption of firebricks or other thermal energy storage methods for industrial processes.
The research revealed that the scenario with firebricks could lead to a significant reduction in capital costs by $1.27 trillion across the 149 countries compared to the scenario without firebrick storage. Additionally, it was found that the use of firebricks lowered the demand for energy from the grid and reduced the need for energy storage capacity from batteries.
The urgent need to transition to clean energy is closely tied to public health. Extensive research has revealed that the air pollution resulting from the burning of fossil fuels leads to millions of premature deaths annually.
“Every bit of combustion fuels we replace with electricity reduces that air pollution,” Jacobson said. “And because there is a limited amount of money to transition at a high speed, the lower the cost to the overall system, the faster we can implement it.”
Journal reference:
- Mark Z Jacobson, Daniel J Sambor, Yuanbei F Fan, Andreas Mühlbauer. Effects of firebricks for industrial process heat on the cost of matching all-sector energy demand with 100% wind–water–solar supply in 149 countries. PNAS Nexus, 2024; DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae274
Leave a Reply