I-Corps: Large-Scale, Waste Heat Recovery Solution Based on Thermoacoustic Energy Conversion

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an energy recovery system capable of converting waste heat energy in the form of excess vapor or exhaust gas into usable electricity using the physics of acoustic waves. Documented efficiencies of these systems are approximately 20%. The target end user of would be a large-scale industrial facility in the food and beverage, automotive, heavy metal, or oil and natural gas industries or a rural government entity struggling with waste heat management and/or committed to providing power to off-grid areas. The proposed technology is driven by low grade waste heat in the form of vapor or exhaust from various processes. For example, there has been a recent increase in the number of manufacturing sites utilizing combined heat and power (CHP) units that output low grade steam at a high mass flow rate. This technology would act as a complementary system to CHP, providing further cost-savings by supplying electric power from harnessed low-grade steam energy. By integrating the proposed technology into a manufacturing facility, thermal pollution caused by high temperature vapor output will be mitigated by cooling the vapor before releasing it into the environment.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an energy recovery system comprised of two independent subsystems: (1) a thermal module to harness the waste heat from a vapor stack or exhaust gas tubing; and (2) a thermoacoustic electric generator to convert the waste heat into electric power. Each thermal module may be custom-made for any industry partner depending on the size and thermal capacity of the vapor stack available. The heat energy harnessed in the thermal module will be transferred via a heat transfer fluid into the thermoacoustic electric generator. The thermoacoustic electric generator will remain consistent across all systems allowing for more streamlined manufacturing. The proposed innovation may be scaled similarly to the size of a small backup generator seen in private homes or scaled to the size of a natural gas generator used in heavy industry. Industrial sponsors have aided the advance of the technology using multiple types of working fluids and energy extraction methods. In addition, there has been substantial advancement in computational modeling used to predict the physics of the fluid phenomenon that is responsible for the heat energy conversion, focusing specifically on traveling waves.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.