Leveraging Gigawatt Potentials by Smart Heat-Pump Technologies Using Ionic Liquids

摘要

One of the greatest challenges to science in the 21 st century is the development of efficient energy production, storage, and transformation systems with minimal ecological footprints. Due to the lack of efficient heat-transformation technologies, industries around the world currently waste energy in the gigawatt range at low temperatures (40-80 degrees C). These energy potentials can be unlocked or used more efficiently through a new generation of smart heat pumps operating with novel ionic liquid (IL)-based working pairs. The new technology is expected to allow revolutionary technical progress in heat-trans-formation devices, for example, significantly higher potential efficiencies, lower specific investments, and broader possibilities to incorporate waste energy from renewable sources. Furthermore, due to drastically reduced corrosion rates and excellent thermal stabilities of the new, IL-based working pairs, the high driving temperatures necessary for multi-effect cycles such as double-or triple-effect absorption chillers, can also be realized. The details of this novel and innovative heat-transformation technology are described.