New Energy Source Described as Being “Mind-Blowing”

There’s been so much news on the energy front recently, I couldn’t decide on this week’s subject. I’ve been off the grid for a month or so dealing with cataract surgery so I’ve compiled quite a list that I find interesting. However, when one is bold enough to not only use the phrase “mind-blowing” but to insert it into the title of the article, it gets my attention. Thanks to Rick Kramer @ TheCoolDown.com for calling my attention to the matter and for the back-up sources used to compile this article.

Sawdust plays a huge role in this new process that some have described as being “Frankenstein” in nature, although it is uncertain exactly how many and which types of sawdust will be conducive to energy transfer and storage. At present, researchers have been quite happy with the results using high-carbon pine-mill waste. What was yesterday just a basic unintended bi-product of the saw-mill industry has now found use as a valuable component in new energy production and storage, especially storage.

The pine component was used at random and, although proven to be affective, is perhaps one of only many types of sawdust that can be used. Perhaps they were counting on its high carbon-content. Perhaps it truly was done randomly. Regardless, the sawdust is entered during electrode development. The process to make the electrode actually requires only a very manageable 1,292-degree Fahrenheit heat setting along with unknown “economical additives”, perhaps butane or propane, which is typically used to convert from winter to summer grade gasoline (or vice-versa).

This is a new process seeking to combine the best parts of both batteries and supercapacitors and radically improves the ability to store renewable energy of several types. It purports to be able to lower sustainable and intermittent renewable energy storage costs. Seems we’re always concentrating on the production of energy, which is a noble and fine effort (renewable or not) rather than the storage. A substantial increase in the ability to store produced energy is important due to fluctuations in both supply and demand due to weather, war or other factors.

“In the field of renewable energies, we cannot control the wind, heat, light, etc. that nature offers us. And the energy demand sometimes does not coincide with the energy supply; so resources need to be developed to store that energy produced by renewable systems,” Basque Researcher Eider Goikoles was quoted as saying.

Unsurprisingly, the project involved lithium-ion technology used in the supercapacitors and they produce tremendous power, but only for a short time. To offset this obstacle, researchers have developed a hybrid device – a supercapacitor with battery-like components. The benefit created by this marriage lays reason to its “Frankenstein” moniker. I can’t think of another recent happening in the sector getting the Superman treatment like this one, yet, at the same time, not being conspicuous at all. I had to search to find companion sources to go with that mentioned earlier. Why no fanfare??

Because its about storage not the generation of energy per se. Does that make it any more or less significant to society, to the industry, to us all as individuals? I’m predicting right now that the discovery is going to leave AI companies and the like with a huge smile. The amount of energy necessary to power and hold incredible information/storage amounts is out-of-this-world. Parts of Texas have solar panels for acres and acres and the Permian has generally been viewed as the best and closest energy source with many agreeing right now that natural gas is the answer to supply the energy needs for what is only going to become a bigger and bigger industry.

As per the UN, almost a third of the world’s power is already being generated from renewables and they are actually the most affordable electricity option in many parts of the world. The industry is changing rapidly with the unexpected Lithium found in flowback water from Marcellus completions found to exist in commercial quantities and of sufficient quality for battery production. China has just released a “breakthrough” sodium-battery model purportedly able to energy about 12,000 homes. Tesla has its lithium-ion Megapacka already and we will see what the market holds for them after all this anti-Musk nonsense fades away and the market adapts to the myriad of changes it is facing.

“This offers the advantages of both systems, high-power energy can be stored (as in batteries), it can operate at high-power levels and is able to withstand many charge-discharge cycles (like supercapacitors)”, Goikoles was quoted as saying.

As for homeowners, they can store their self-generated power by combining their solar panels with the battery. Further, it is becoming more and more prevalent to see them being linked to a virtual power plant, actually selling some of the excess electricity they store back to the grid. Tax breaks or incentives of one sort or another still exists for many, many Green efforts, although we may see a big correction to that market. Only time will tell. Things are happening quickly nowadays, no?

Interestingly enough, Spain is at the forefront of this, using pine sawdust for energy production (primarily as a biofuel for heating plants) and as the primary component for heating pellets. This has been going on for years. The research exploring its use in supercapacitors is the most recent and important news. Its use in energy storage research is newsworthy for good reason.  However, Spain has long continued to use pine sawdust for numerous energy-related reasons.

Spain commonly uses sawdust as a common feedstock in the production of biofuel and is used in heating plants as a raw material for pellets. The Setra Group uses it, along with bark and wood chips, to produce wood chips for bioenergy production, including pyrolysis oi (bio-oil) from sawdust. It is often also combined with refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to create a variety of solid biofuels. It also has non-energy related uses including as the primary component or particleboard of OSB (oriented strand board).

This combination of pseudo-batteries and supercapacitors may put this team on track to maximize our storage to levels never before imagined. Warnings from MIT, the World Health Organization and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration all name air pollution as the single-biggest source of pollution for every person her on earth, either via severe weather or due to increased health concerns is yesterday’s news. But here’s a big step, perhaps, in the right direction. Obviously, the ability to efficiently store produced energy will change the industry. It’s amazing to me to see the industries overlap and new sources of battery-generated power or battery stored power be developed.

As we increasingly recognize the adverse effects of climate change and all of the negatives regarding air pollution, a cheap and readily available by-product from another industry may set a new course as we seek a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution. We should all continue to monitor these wood management practices and develop even more efficient technologies for harnessing the full potential of sawdust as a major component of our energy industry.