GREEN-ICEs: Generation of REfrigerated ENergy Integrated with Cold Energy storage

Completed

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Energy system analysis)
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage)
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Applied Mathematics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Chemical Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr Y Li
Chemical Engineering
University of Birmingham

Standard

EPSRC

01 September 2020

31 August 2024

48 months

£1,204,099

Energy

West Midlands

Energy : Energy

Dr Y Li, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham

Dr Y Ding, Inst of Particle Science & Engineering, University of Leeds
Dr MC Paul, Aerospace Engineering, University of Glasgow
Dr A Sciacovelli, Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham
Dr B Xu, Sch of Management and Languages, Heriot-Watt University
Dr Z Yu, Aerospace Engineering, University of Glasgow

Project Contact, E.ON UK (formerly PowerGen)
Project Contact, Flexible Power Systems
Project Contact, Oxford Nanosystems
Project Contact, CAL Gavin Ltd
Project Contact, Star Refrigeration Ltd

The provision of cold is a vital foundation of modern society to underpins many aspects of modern life, consumes up to 14% of the UK's electricity, and is also responsible for around 10% of UK's greenhouse gas emissions, including both CO2 associated with their power consumption and leakage of refrigerants with high Global Warming Potential (GWP). In order to achieve net-zero emission target in 2050 in the UK, we must significantly decarbonise the cooling sector.The decarbonisation of the cooling section requires to tackle two key challenges. Firstly, the leakage of traditional, refrigerants with high GWP is a key issue of the greenhouse gas emission of the cooling sector. It is, therefore, necessary to substitute them with low GWP natural refrigerant such as CO2. Secondly, the high-power consumption of the cooling sector also results in greenhouse gas emission if non-renewable power is consumed. Hence, cost-effective cold storage capacity will need to be deployed to maximise the use of intermittent renewable energy and cheap off-peak electricity. The recent study concluded that the addition of cold storage can potentially provide a 43% decrease in peak period consumption.In response to the challenges identified above, this project aims to develop a novel integrated system for cold energy generation and storage using CO2 hydrate as both refrigerant and storage material, contributing to the decarbonisation of the cooling sector in the UK and more widely the global. The multidisciplinary consortium, consisting of six leading researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow and Heriot-Watt, processes a wide range of well-balanced expertise including chemical engineering, thermodynamics, heat transfer, CFD, and economics to address several key scientific and technical challenges, and is further supported by several leading industrial partners to maximise knowledge exchange and impact delivery.

08/10/21