Low temperature waste heat to power generation

In the UK it is estimated that 70% of final energy usage in the industrial sector is for thermal processes (furnaces, reactors, boilers and dryers) and up to a third of this energy is wasted through losses. A significant portion of this heat can be recovered and utilised to make a contribution to energy efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emission reduction targets. The vast majority of this energy, is available at low temperatures, below, 90 C, which makes it difficult to use directly within the plant or converted economically to electrical power using currently available technologies. 

The aim of this project is to fill a gap in the market and develop an innovative heat to power conversion system capable of recovering and converting low temperature waste heat to electrical power at competitive efficiency and higher thermal to electrical energy conversion ratio than currently available technologies.

The innovation potential and impact of the system are significant. Project innovations will involve the optimisation of ‘wet’ expanders to operate efficiently at low heat source temperatures, the development of a thermally driven pumping system and innovative heat exchangers to reduce parasitic losses. 

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor Savvas Tassou - Academic and Professional Qualifications BSc (1st Class Honours) Mechanical Engineering PhD Department of Mechanical Engineering. Thesis titled `An Investigation of the Criteria to Give Optimum Performance from a Variable Capacity Heat Pump\'. MBA Master of Business Administration. CEng Chartered Engineer. MIMechE Corporate member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. MASHRAE Member of the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers.. MIIR – Member of International Institute of Refrigeration FInstR - Fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration Academic Career 1978 - 1981 Research Assistant - University of Westminster 1981 - 1986 Lecturer in thermofluids and energy - University of Westminster 1986 to date - Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader/Professor in Thermodynamics and Building Services Engineering - Brunel University London 2001 - 2004 - Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering 2004 - 2014 - Head of School of Engineering and Design 2014 to date - Director of Institute of Energy Futures

Related Research Group(s)

Heat Pipe and Thermal Management - Thermal management; Energy efficiency development; Emission reduction; Energy recovery; Heat-pipe technology; Heat exchangers; Fluid dynamics.

Project last modified 21/11/2023