This week we will look at some developments in energy generation and storage. We will also find out how the US Army is finding clean water in the field and examine the most heat resistant material ever known.
Future Sources of Energy
Hybrid Solar Converter
Researchers at Tulane University (in New Orleans) have developed a hybrid device that uses solar energy to create electricity as well as steam. They have combined the ability to use the sun’s light and heat into one device.
The device has a collection efficiency of 85.1% (a very high number) and the steam captured can be heated up to 248 degrees C. This makes the device very useful in industrial settings. Once produced at scale the device should be able to run at US$0.03 per kilowatt hour (Sydney wholesale electricity prices usually range from $0.17 to $0.23 but can spike much higher, as an aside anyone interested in using wholesale power rather than the retail systems in Australia have a look at the startup Amber Electric).
Fusion
Fusion is the joining of two hydrogen atoms to form a single helium atom. This results in excess energy being released in the form of heat. It happens all day every day on the sun. It is how our world stays light and warm. The sun fuses approximately 600,000,000 tons of hydrogen every second. The process sounds simple but it is extremely difficult to manage.
I won’t go into the technical details however the main challenge is to manage a plasma heated to 150 million degrees celsius. The solution is to use a magnetic field to contain the plasma (we don’t have any sort of physical containment device that can stand the temperatures). A lot of progress has been made in this field however commercialization of fusion power has always been 20 to 50 years away. That may soon change.
The largest fusion project is underway in Southern France where 35 nations are building the world’s largest tokamak (a Russian word for the magnetic containment device which will manage the reaction). The plant is under construction and plans to produce their first plasma in 2025 and they hope to have commercialization between 2035 and 2045. Every aspect of the project is massive. Construction commenced in 2010.
Whilst ITER is building a massive tokamak, efforts are underway in multiple countries to build smaller tokamaks. Commonwealth Fusions Systems (CFS), a spin off from MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center in Boston has just raised US$84 million from a range of investors to continue their work on a much smaller device using recently developed, Barium Copper Oxide superconductors to build the magnets required. These magnets are much smaller, faster and less expensive.
CFS plan to have their first commercial system available in 2025. There are other companies in Japan and Korea that have similar ambitions.
The great advantage of Fusion power is that the marginal cost of production is basically free. A bucket of heavy water (heavy water has an extra H atom and is the source of the hydrogen) will make as much power as 1,000,000 railway wagons of coal. Heavy water is abundant in sea water. The cost for fusion is in building the power plant and the transmission lines for the power. In the future any government that wants a commercial advantage will build a fusion power plant and give away the electricity. Once power is free everything will be electrified.
Another different battery
Current portable battery technology relies heavily on Lithium and Cobalt. Both are difficult to find and Cobalt in particular is mostly found in war-torn countries resulting in a high prices. Prices will continue to rise as demand rises.
Researchers from Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a sodium-ion battery that works as efficiently as some commercial lithium-ion batteries. The problem with previous sodium-ion batteries was the buildup at the surface of the battery’s cathode thus stopping the flow of sodium ions. By creating a layered metal oxide cathode that included additional sodium ions the problem was solved.
The battery is able recharge successfully and able to hold 80% of its’ capacity after 1,000 cycles. Sodium-ion batteries will be cheaper and more sustainable. Future research will concentrate on improving the energy density of the batteries and the cycle life to match the best lithium-ion batteries currently on the market.
The most heat resistant material ever created by man
Scientists at the National University of Science and Technology in Russia have created a material with the highest known melting point. It has a melting point estimated to be 4,200 degrees C. The exact melting point is unknown as laboratories can not safely withstand temperatures over 4,000 degrees (also explains why we need a magnetic field to contain a plasma at 150 million degrees).
The ceramic is made from hafnium carbonitride (Hf-C-N). The material is not only heat resistant but also wear-resistant and cheaper to produce than current solutions.
The material could prove useful for the intense heat encountered in jet engines, nose fairings and the sharp edges of wings on planes where temperatures above 2,000 degrees C are encountered. Many leading space agencies are also investigating uses for the ceramic in developing reusable space vehicles, reducing the cost and the time intervals between flights.
Clean water
The US Army and the University of Rochester have developed a solar panel that purifies putrid water. The technology uses a regular aluminum panel treated with femtosecond laser pulses (a femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second) that create a grooved ultra black surface. This turns the material highly absorbent (called Super-wicking) which allows the panel to pull water up from a source below and along the panel. The water then evaporates which rids the water of impurities. The evaporated water is then captured and naturally cooled ready for drinking.
The device is portable, easy to clean and reconfigurable.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please email me via my website craigcarlyon.com or comment below.
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested.