High Efficiency Waste Heat to Osmotic Power
Development and Demonstration of High Efficiency Waste Heat to Osmotic Power (WHOP)
T2M Global LLC
Recipient
Sun Valley, CA
Recipient Location
Senate District
39th
Assembly District
$1,346,294
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
The project team performed lab testing and analysis to determine the most favorable components for the Waste Heat to Osmotic Power system and designed the scaled-up demonstration system. The demonstration system has been fabricated and installed at the demonstration site, and the project provided meaningful data for future work and scale up. The project has been completed, and the final report has been published.
View Final ReportThe Issue
An estimated 5 quadrillion BTU/year of waste heat energy remains unused in California. A large portion of this waste heat is in the low-temperature range, which can be defined as waste heat below 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Low-temperature waste heat is difficult to recover and reuse economically. The various technologies currently being investigated have relatively low efficiency and high capital costs when used to generate power from low-temperature waste heat sources. The unused waste heat generated from gas combustion sources contributes to harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), without providing any value.
Project Innovation
The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative Waste Heat to Osmotic Power (WHOP) system. New polymeric draw solutions with high osmotic pressures, along with newly available high-flux Forward Osmosis membrane systems, will pull large amounts of water across semi-permeable membranes in a process called Pressure Retarded Forward Osmosis (PRFO). The resulting pressurized water will run a turbo-generator to produce electrical power. The spent polymeric solution is regenerated with heat and restored as an osmotic draw solution for the next cycle of the PRFO process. The WHOP process promises efficiency greater than 15%, at an installed cost of less than $1,500/kW when in full production.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project is developing and demonstrating an engineering-scale WHOP system for power generation from low-temperature waste heat. The success of this project will lead to innovative applications and practices for power generation in the PRFO process and the creation of a more efficient techno-economic package at lower costs than current heat-engine based systems or solid-state devices. The successful demonstration of the WHOP technology will open a new economic pathway for currently wasted heat from industrial and other operations.
Affordability
The WHOP system is estimated to have an installed cost of less than $1,500/kW and a simple payback period of 1.5 years, when in full production.
Economic Development
Assuming 1% per year penetration rate of the target waste heat market (1 quad), the WHOP system penetration would be 880 GWh per year. This translates to 100-200 MW in additional capacity and a $1-3 billion per year market in California.
Environmental Sustainability
The WHOP system will produce power without generating any new emissions of NOx, SOx, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), etc.
Key Project Members
Pinakin Patel
Subrecipients
Nrgtek, Inc.
Trevi Systems Inc.
Bhupatrai R. Mehta
Longitude 122 West, Inc
Match Partners
Nrgtek, Inc.
Trevi Systems Inc.
T2M Global LLC
