Researchers believe they can make millions of homes in Europe gas-free in the near future, after inventing a “heat battery” based on salt and water.
The team from Eindhoven University of Technology say their cheap, compact battery system is ready for real-world tests and will be a “game-changer for energy transition”.
The heat battery is based on an old thermochemical principle, which is that when water is added to salt it produces heat. The reverse is also possible, whereby heat can be used to evaporate the water, thus storing the heat energy inside the salt.
Storing heat within dry salt makes the battery completely loss-free, providing an incredibly efficient way to store energy for future use. This is particularly useful when energy supply is coming from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, which tend to fluctuate significantly and therefore require gas or other sources to suplement them.
It took 12 years to develop and create a battery design that could actually work at scale, with researchers saying it comes at a critical time with European countries looking to wean themselves off Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
The heat source to store in the salt can be taken from industrial by-products, such as the residual “heat waste” in factories or surplus heat from data centers.
“If industrial residual heat could be used to heat homes, you have a win-win situation: homes could be made independent of gas – an even more urgent need given the dependence on Russian gas – and CO2 emissions would be reduced,” Eindhoven University of Technology said in a statement.
Except for superconductor material, I’m not sure about that “loss-free” energy …..