Finnish researchers create a battery made of Sand

In threatening to destroy the planet it seems Putin is also spurring the effort to save it , with the move away from Russian oil and gas Finnish research students may have come up with an answer to one of the big problems with Green electricity ... how to store it.

Their creation is cheap and ingenious , use the energy produced by wind and solar farms to heat 100 tonnes of builder's sand in a Silo to 500 degrees then when it's needed use the heat held by the sand to produce electricity , basically a big sandy battery.

Right now, most batteries are made with lithium and are expensive with a large, physical footprint, and can only cope with a limited amount of excess power.

But in the town of Kankaanpää, a team of young Finnish engineers have completed the first commercial installation of a battery made from sand that they believe can solve the storage problem in a low-cost, low impact way.

"Whenever there's like this high surge of available green electricity, we want to be able to get it into the storage really quickly," said Markku Ylönen, one of the two founders of Polar Night Energy who have developed the product.

The device has been installed in the Vatajankoski power plant which runs the district heating system for the area.

Low-cost electricity warms the sand up to 500C by resistive heating (the same process that makes electric fires work).

This generates hot air which is circulated in the sand by means of a heat exchanger.

Sand is a very effective medium for storing heat and loses little over time. The developers say that their device could keep sand at 500C for several months.

So when energy prices are higher, the battery discharges the hot air which warms water for the district heating system which is then pumped around homes, offices and even the local swimming pool.

Other research groups, such as the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory are actively looking at sand as a viable form of battery for green power.

But the Finns are the first with a working, commercial system, that so far is performing well, according to the man who's invested in the system.

"It's really simple, but we liked the idea of trying something new, to be the first in the world to do something like this," said Pekka Passi, the managing director of the Vatajankoski power plant.

"It's a bit crazy, if you wish, but I think it's going to be a success."
www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: gortex

Wow, we might not be able to build a house on it but we can a battery.

The deserts are amazing for generating solar power and they have more sand than the planet knows what to do with. I really hope this becomes truly useful on a mass level. Wherever there is a good energy supply you can have a factory too. Robots can work in really hot places where humans can't.

Filed under "Now why didn't I think of that!".

While we're not likely to see sand batteries in vehicles, for large-scale energy storage this is a really good idea. Compared to chemical or lithium batteries it's far less expensive, the medium should last literally forever, and if the sand is clean it won't start itself on fire. Win win win!

The article links to an NREL proposal for a facility using sand conveyed through silos. Interesting, but they need to develop a way to work with the sand in place. Cold wet sand is abrasive enough, I wouldn't want to see the headaches that moving 2200ºf sand around would cause!

Raise your hands all of you that actually did not read all the article. Come on now. I see you

This is in no way a battery. It can only be used as a heater. The efficiency drops drastically when you make the heat back into electricity, this is by the article itself.

While this might be useful in areas needing heat continuously, how exactly can this be used for cooling, running your computer, powering a light bulb, etc..?

This is mearly a limited application of a simple technology that can use up surplus energy to later be used for heating only. Not an energy storage device. Not a battery.

You cannot get the energy back out of it in the same form it went in.

originally posted by: gb540
Filed under "Now why didn't I think of that!".

While we're not likely to see sand batteries in vehicles, for large-scale energy storage this is a really good idea. Compared to chemical or lithium batteries it's far less expensive, the medium should last literally forever, and if the sand is clean it won't start itself on fire. Win win win!

The article links to an NREL proposal for a facility using sand conveyed through silos. Interesting, but they need to develop a way to work with the sand in place. Cold wet sand is abrasive enough, I wouldn't want to see the headaches that moving 2200ºf sand around would cause!

Sand battery for vehicles would be extremely heavy though. Basically make me think Egyptian desert might be a giant battery for Earth. Has anyone tried sticking some copper wires or recharge technological device in the desert and see it is can recharge your phones?

Cool. They also have geothermal heat that heats their sidewalks, with hot water from the underground springs. Why aren't they using that? Is that where their 'green' energy SHOULD come from instead of solar and wind? Are they making this for the rest of the world since they already have a natural 'green' heat source readily available.

But, yeah, this is great. The rest of the world could hopefully take advantage of this as a heat storage system. Especially in areas that have lots of sun, using solar and wind to heat the sand. 932F is pretty safe for sand. But geez, what about all those sand 'batteries'?



How many homes would that provide heat for? Cause I don't see California falling in love with that image.

a reply to: beyondknowledge

This is in no way a battery. It can only be used as a heater. The efficiency drops drastically when you make the heat back into electricity, this is by the article itself.

And It's basically already been invented ... lol

originally posted by: Infoshill

a reply to: beyondknowledge

This is in no way a battery. It can only be used as a heater. The efficiency drops drastically when you make the heat back into electricity, this is by the article itself.

And It's basically already been invented ... lol

Why do you need the fancy heat pump system that takes more power to run?

Just put pipe loops in the ground and blow air through them. Think about it. Fifty something degrees farenheight year round no matter what. That is warm in the winter and cold in the summer. You would only need small fans running.

Bosh wants to sell you a system you can make yourself with some computer cooling fans and pipe.

Geothermal Heat Pumps have been used for years , you do need some electric to run compressors

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
Raise your hands all of you that actually did not read all the article. Come on now. I see you

This is in no way a battery. It can only be used as a heater. The efficiency drops drastically when you make the heat back into electricity, this is by the article itself.

While this might be useful in areas needing heat continuously, how exactly can this be used for cooling, running your computer, powering a light bulb, etc..?

This is mearly a limited application of a simple technology that can use up surplus energy to later be used for heating only. Not an energy storage device. Not a battery.

You cannot get the energy back out of it in the same form it went in.

Yeah. I read it all and could not think of any practical application for it other than being a heater. They lost me at : "low-cost electricity warms the sand..."
The Baghdad battery, it is not.
Nor is it in anyway close to the tidal propulsion system being explored in Russia.
There is virtually no way this system will produce electricity unless the heat is used as invection to power some form of magneto via a type of vane. Even then, you are heating the sand unnaturally, via electricity. Nothingburger comes to mind.

originally posted by: Infoshill


And It's basically already been invented ... lol

Too right............... Economy 7

OMG!
look up geothermal energy!!!

a reply to: beyondknowledge

Raise your hands all of you that actually did not read all the article. Come on now. I see you

Reading and understanding are two different things , the Finnish researchers are working on energy storage not production.

You cannot get the energy back out of it in the same form it went in.

No , but you can convert the stored heat back into electricity , this storage solution is a step toward that.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
This is in no way a battery.

It is storing energy that would have normally not been captured. It works in a similar way to how molten sodium batteries function.