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Liguid air

  • 04-10-2012 7:26am
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 31,118 ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.dearmanengine.com/cms/liquid-air/
    A simple idea, nothing new but possibly a way of saving "wasted" electricity.
    Liquid Air

    “Thinking Outside The Wires.”

    Billions of litres of liquefied air (liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen) are used each year in a variety of industrial applications throughout the world; and their production is a multi-billion dollar global industry. But their value in clean energy is only just emerging.
    Air is in fact the most natural, abundant and environmentally friendly energy storage medium of all.
    This looks like a variation on the compressed air vehicles that have been developed in the past.
    1. At -196C, air becomes a liquid. One litre of liquid air is “manufactured” by compressing and cooling 710 litres of air. Liquefying air uses energy, i.e. ‘stores’ it.
    2. Storing the liquid air is straightforward as it can be held in a non-pressurised insulated tank; it is not flammable (it is in fact classed as a lower hazard than diesel, hydrogen or battery chemicals); it can be produced and stored on site or distributed by pipeline or road tanker.
    3. To turn the liquid air back to gas, simply apply “environmental heat” (anything warmer than -196C). If you do this in a confined space, i.e. inside the piston of an engine, the result is high pressure air (now in a normal gaseous state) which can be used to power a vehicle (or a static generator). The engine exhausts cold air back to the environment.

    Looks very promising as a way of storing "spare" wind & solar energy.

    What chances does this technology have in helping with future energy management?


Comments

  • #2
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,064 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    Surely the big catch is the inefficiency of cooling / compressing the air in the first place.


  • #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 31,118 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Gurgle wrote: »
    Surely the big catch is the inefficiency of cooling / compressing the air in the first place.
    It is, but the electricity would go to waste if it wasn't used at all, such a system would only really be useful if it captured the surplus energy from wind farms and the like.


  • #4
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,559 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Gurgle wrote: »
    Surely the big catch is the inefficiency of cooling / compressing the air in the first place.
    yes

    also you need a lot of heat to turn the liquid back into a gas, so would need a large lake or power plant


    also it's kinda important to distinguish between liquid nitrogen / liquid air / liquid oxygen



    just about any combustible material, like paper or leather, when soaked with liquid oxygen becomes an explosive
    liquid air / liquid oxygen is cold enough to get oxygen in the air to condense so not good


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