Warmth not waste – capturing and reusing heat from a steel works

A new project involving Swansea University researchers and Tata Steel will investigate the potential for recovering waste heat from industry so it can be re-used.

Heavy industries can release up to half of their consumed energy as waste heat. The heat generated by the giant Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales (UK) is equivalent to the heating demand of 500,000 homes; capturing and re-using it would offset more than a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Funding has just been announced for the project, which will focus on a thermochemical heat storage material developed by Swansea University’s SPECIFIC Innovation & Knowledge Centre.

Researchers will look at whether this material can be used to capture, store and release waste heat from Port Talbot steelworks. They will be exploring the technical, economic and environmental potential.

The 24-month project is called Mobile Energy Storage as Heat (MESH).

Lead researcher Dr Jonathon Elvins said:

“Our ultimate aim is to be able to store this previously-wasted energy for long periods, and to transport it to where it is needed. For example, it could be used to provide low or zero carbon heat for industrial processes or for heating buildings such as homes, offices or schools.”

Richie Hart, Process Technology Manager at Tata Steel, said:

“As an energy intensive industry our Port Talbot site is continually developing energy efficiency measures but low-level heat energy is always very difficult to recover.

“This project offers the potential to derive value from this form of heat, also helping drive down the regional CO2 footprint.”

The project has been awarded £250,000 funding from the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government and FLEXISApp, a partnership between the Universities of Swansea, Cardiff and South Wales, industry and government which aims to develop innovative energy technologies. A further £50,000 will be provided in match funding from the project partners.

Principal Investigator for FLEXISApp, Professor Dave Worsley, said:

“The partnership project MESH is an exciting one. Dr Jon Elvins, his team at SPECIFIC and Tata Steel have already made great progress with research in Thermal Heat Storage.

FLEXISApp is able to part fund the commercial development of technologies that focus on industrial decarbonisation and greenhouse gas reduction.

With the additional funding and resources from FLEXISApp this partnership can be developed further, to drive forward the creation of new green technology and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industry.”

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Pictures/video:

SPECIFIC’s SIM (Salt in Matrix) material. This can, under the right conditions, store thermal energy indefinitely. This raises the possibility of storing heat from summer until winter or transporting heat from the point of generation to where it is most needed.

Thermography shows the distribution of heat generated by SIM materials in the laboratory.

Video explaining “How it works” – brief clips from some of the researchers also available

Notes to Editors

Swansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university offering a first-class student experience and has one of the best employability rates of graduates in the UK. The University has the highest possible rating for teaching – the Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in 2018 and was commended for its high proportions of students achieving consistently outstanding outcomes.

Swansea climbed 14 places to 31st in the Guardian University Guide 2019, making us Wales’ top ranked university, with one of the best success rates of graduates gaining employment in the UK and the same overall satisfaction level as the Number 1 ranked university.

The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 results saw Swansea make the ‘biggest leap among research-intensive institutions’ in the UK (Times Higher Education, December 2014) and achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK.

The University is in the top 300 best universities in the world, ranked in the 251-300 group in The Times Higher Education World University rankings 2018. Swansea University now has 23 main partners, awarding joint degrees and post-graduate qualifications.

The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020 and aims to continue to extend its global reach and realise its domestic and international potential.

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For more information:

Kevin Sullivan

senior press officer

Swansea University


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