The Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, along with Imperial College London, Brunel University and University of Birmingham, has been awarded an EPSRC funded project aimed at minimising primary-energy use in the UK industry. The four year multidisciplinary project, in collaboration with a large number of industrial partners, will focus energy-conversion technologies with integrated energy-storage capabilities:
- heat-to-power with organic Rankine cycle devices
- heat-to-cooling with absorption refrigeration devices
These devices allow recovery and utilisation of heat energy from diverse sources in industrial applications, including renewable energy sources (solar, geothermal, biomass/gas) or waste from industrial processes.
Dr Laura Torrente, who leads the Process Integration and Catalysis Group, University of Cambridge, will work on the design and development of new additives to fluids to enhanced heat transfer predicted by computational methodologies.