{"id":216463,"date":"2020-04-06T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=216463"},"modified":"2020-04-06T10:00:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T08:00:25","slug":"burning-issues-philip-de-goey-gets-e-2-5-million-for-research-into-metal-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/burning-issues-philip-de-goey-gets-e-2-5-million-for-research-into-metal-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Burning issues: Philip de Goey gets \u20ac 2.5 million for research into metal fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun and wind are not anytime and anywhere available, so how do you temporarily store that energy? A group of researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology sees a dream candidate in metal fuels: CO2-free, reusable and with a high energy density. The first results are promising, but in order to deploy the technology on a large scale, it is first necessary to fully understand and control the combustion of these metal particles. Using an Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC), Professor of Combustion Technology Philip de Goey is now going to answer this \u2018burning\u2019 question.<\/p>\n

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The combustion of iron powder is spectacular, but more importantly, to date, almost misunderstood. \u00a9 Bart van Overbeeke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Come on baby, light my fire<\/em>. The Doors\u2019 megahit from the sixties wouldn\u2019t be out of place in Philip de Goey\u2019s lab. Efficient and clean fuel combustion is central to the research of this Professor of Combustion Technology. Research labs around the world use the methods developed by his group to fully understand and control the combustion of natural gas and other fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

[learn_more caption=”Additional research into Metal Fuels”] In addition to this fundamental research at TU\/e, work is being done on several fronts in order to apply, demonstrate and scale up metal fuels on a practical scale. The ultimate goal is to apply this technology in the industry (in five years) or in a coal-fired power station (in ten years). De Goey is undertaking this within the framework of Metalot an innovation center affiliated with TU\/e of which he is the initiator. Within this center, three large projects with a total value of seven million euros have been started in which a large number of research institutes and companies collaborate. The SOLID student team actively participates in all of these projects. These are:<\/p>\n

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  • Lighthouse Metal POWER<\/strong>: a consortium funded by the Province of Noord-Brabant to build a 100-kW pilot installation for the combustion of iron powder at Swinkels Family Brewery. Participants are TU\/e, Metalot, SOLID, Uniper, Enpuls, Nyrstar, EM Group, Heat Power and Romico.<\/li>\n
  • Lighthouse Metal Energy Carrier<\/strong>: a consortium funded by the province to demonstrate a reduction system. Participants are TU\/e, Metalot, SOLID, Shell, EM Group, Heat Power, RISE (SE) and Pometon (IT).<\/li>\n
  • Metal POWER living Lab<\/strong>: OPZuid stimulation project (European Innovation program South of the Netherlands) to scale up the 100-KW system to 1 MW for the first pilot application of high-temperature heat and\/or steam in the industry. Participants are Metalot, TU\/e, SOLID, EM Group, Heat Power, Energy Storage NL, Nyrstar, Swinkels, and Veolia.[\/learn_more]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Recently, he has turned his attention to a new mystery: metal fuels. This is a promising, newly discovered energy carrier, even called \u2018the battery of the future\u2019 by some. However, there is a fundamental lack of understanding regarding the combustion of these metal fuels. This is unusual as this sort of combustion is not remotely new: it\u2019s been taking place for a long time in fireworks and rocket fuel, among other things.<\/p>\n

    How come we still know so little about the combustion of metal fuels?<\/h3>\n

    \u201cThe combustion of metal fuels is indeed not a new phenomenon. For example, the metal you choose in fireworks determines which colors you see in the sky. There is only one important difference with metal fuels. In existing applications, the metal particles are surrounded by other materials that are flammable. This flammable environment also causes metal particles to combust. In the case of metal fuels, the combustion has to come from the particles themselves and jump from one particle to another without the help of anything else. That makes it a completely new situation, one that has hardly before been looked at scientifically.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Why have metal fuels attracted so much attention recently?<\/h3>\n

    \u201cIn recent years, the need for temporary energy storage has grown as we increasingly shift to renewable energy sources such as the sun and wind. Large-scale storage in batteries is too expensive and for hydrogen, which is also often mentioned, you need an enormous volume. Metals have a much higher energy density than hydrogen, so they are very compact and easy to transport as an energy carrier. I can imagine that you get the energy from the sun and wind at the spot where that works best, such as on the equator, and then transport it to other places.\u201d<\/p>\n