Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
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Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#2So, assuming it is cheap and available, that's storage for solar power solved.
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#3Short version of the science: The heat is released via an exothermic chemical reaction between the Zeolite and water. However, unlike the one-time-use chemical-reaction heating pads you can buy in a pharmacy, this reaction is reversible, so you can "recharge" the Zeolite by heating it and removing the water as it is released in order to force the reaction to reverse itself. The reaction goes something like this:
Zeolite + water Zeolite & water complex + HEAT
The reaction happens at the surface of the zeolite, so the storage capacity is proportional to the surface area of the pellet. If you make the pellet highly porous, this can be proportional to its volume.
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#4>By applying heat to Fraunhofer’s zeolite comes into contact with water, a chemical reaction adsorbs the water and emits heat.
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Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#5Short version of the science: The heat is released via an exothermic chemical reaction between the Zeolite and water. However, unlike the one-time-use chemical-reaction heating pads you can buy in a pharmacy, this reaction is reversible, so you can "recharge" the Zeolite by heating it and removing the water as it is released in order to force the reaction to reverse itself. The reaction goes something like this: Zeol…
I don't see how this can translate to the title "Zeolite retains heat indefinitely". After the cycle of heating and cooling has been repeated some finite number of times, parasitic heat loss to the environment will eventually remove all of the heat added at the beginning.
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#6So, assuming it is cheap and available, that's storage for solar power solved.
Not exactly but its a good start. But some interesting ideas come to mind. Using a conveyor to carry Zeolite to the top of a CSP plant and take the resulting stuff down to the reservevoir where its dumped into steam generators for turbines. If it replaced molten sodium as the working 'fluid' then that would make construction of such plants somewhat less challenging from an engineering perspective.
I miss the days when this stuff would show up in the Edmund Scientifics catalog.
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#7links to some relevant Fraunhofer pages;
http://www.igb.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/press-releases/2...
http://www.igb.fraunhofer.de/en/competences/physical-process...
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#8So, assuming it is cheap and available, that's storage for solar power solved.
I'd like to see some energy density numbers in units I can understand before I would jump up and down about this use.
(I'm not saying you're wrong so much as saying I can't provide evidence you're right, and I'm hoping someone else can. Or at least tell us what exactly "the heat storage capability of water" is such that something can have 4 times as much. Please hold wild-assed guesses, please, I can compute the energy difference between two temperatures of water for a given volume as well as the next guy, but what temperatures, or is that even the right question? I'm looking for someone who knows.)
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#9Short version of the science: The heat is released via an exothermic chemical reaction between the Zeolite and water. However, unlike the one-time-use chemical-reaction heating pads you can buy in a pharmacy, this reaction is reversible, so you can "recharge" the Zeolite by heating it and removing the water as it is released in order to force the reaction to reverse itself. The reaction goes something like this: Zeol…
I don't see how this can translate to the title "Zeolite retains heat indefinitely". After the cycle of heating and cooling has been repeated some finite number of times, parasitic heat loss to the environment will eventually remove all of the heat added at the beginning.
I assume it means that, because it is stored in the chemical structure rather than actual heat, it's not leaking to the environment while the pellet is sitting on a shelf (if not exposed to the elements).
Re: Zeolite retains heat indefinitely, absorbs 4x more heat than water
#10Short version of the science: The heat is released via an exothermic chemical reaction between the Zeolite and water. However, unlike the one-time-use chemical-reaction heating pads you can buy in a pharmacy, this reaction is reversible, so you can "recharge" the Zeolite by heating it and removing the water as it is released in order to force the reaction to reverse itself. The reaction goes something like this: Zeol…
I don't see how this can translate to the title "Zeolite retains heat indefinitely". After the cycle of heating and cooling has been repeated some finite number of times, parasitic heat loss to the environment will eventually remove all of the heat added at the beginning.
What they mean is that when the Zeolite is "heated", then it can be stored indefinitely without "cooling down". If you heat water and put it in a tank, it will lose its heat relatively quickly. The Zeolite stores the energy from heat in (stable) chemical bonds, so it won't lose energy over time.