SPF Institute for Solar Technology rewarded towards the development of electricity and heat production using Aluminium as fuel

The SPF Institute for Solar Technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Eastern Switzerland (Ost) received the innovation prize from the "Stiftung Futur" for the development of electricity and heat production using aluminium as fuel. For two years now, the researchers at the SPF have been working on behalf of the Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) on electricity and heat production from aluminium and want to make heating oil and natural gas superfluous in buildings.

"In addition to the buildings' heat requirements in winter, aluminium can also supply electrical energy," says Rapperswil. Together with the solar power generation on the roof and a heat pump, even buildings that are not connected to a heat or natural gas network can be completely heated and supplied with electricity in winter with locally produced energy. "Aluminium is used as an energy carrier in the building technology required for this," is how the researchers describe their project.

According to the researchers, aluminium does not have a good reputation in ecological circles because the production of aluminium requires a lot of electrical energy. However, a large part of it is converted into chemical energy during production. This is in the aluminium produced and can be released again when the aluminium is oxidized - to heat buildings and supply them with electricity. If the energy for aluminium production comes from renewable sources such as solar or wind energy, aluminium can be used as an ideal long-term storage device for environmentally friendly energy.

In the laboratory in Rapperswil-Jona, researchers from the SPF Institute for Solar Technology have built a prototype for electricity and heat production from aluminium. Based on calculations, as predicted in the laboratory test, 8.7 kWh of energy could be released from 1 kilogram of aluminium - enough, for example, to actively work on a laptop for around 450 hours. "With a single cube of aluminium with an edge length of one meter, you could heat two modern detached houses for a whole year and supply them with electricity," the researchers calculate. It needs less volume for this than for heating oil, it does not smell, and in addition to the heat demand, the demand for electrical energy is also covered. The production of heat with aluminium produces hydrogen.

Producing heat and electricity entirely based on renewable energies, even in winter, is probably the greatest challenge of the energy transition, according to the university. This is particularly the case if the winter electricity should not come from abroad. Here the research project appears to be "great hope" because it offers a comparatively simple and inexpensive solution. Besides, the solution is independent of heating or natural gas networks. Also, aluminium does not react with common substances from the environment, so that it can be stored and transported very safely. However, the prerequisite for an effective reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through the use of aluminium as an energy source is that the aluminium is produced exclusively with renewable energy. From that one could, as of today, run out if aluminium is used from production facilities in Iceland or Canada that use energy from hydropower. With aluminium from China or Russia, for example, this would not be the case today.

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