Storage charging

The storage charging is using electricity from renewable sources to produce elementary aluminium (Al) from its oxidized state in the form of Al2O3 (Al3+). This process is an industrial process (800 °C) that uses novel inert electrodes in order to avoid any CO2 emissions which would otherwise arise from the conventional Hall-Héroult aluminium smelting process.

Storage discharging

The discharging or Al-to-Energy cycle is carried out using two different technologies and target applications. Low temperature discharging uses aluminium-water reactions up to 100 °C to produce hydrogen, heat and aluminium hydroxide.

Heat produced by this process and also by a PEM fuel cell that converts hydrogen to electricity is recovered at a temperature level which can be used for space heating and domestic hot water. Additionally, a high temperature discharging process (> 200 °C) targets heat use for industrial application. In this process, aluminium is reacting with steam and producing Al2O3, hydrogen and heat.

Partners

• FENIX TNT
• PRé
• ICETEC
• ARCTUS
• RATIOTHERM
• EH GROUP
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY
• SINTEF

Start date: July 2022

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101069492.