Imagine a cooling system that works like a rechargeable battery, but instead of storing electricity, it stores coldness. It uses a special material made from farm waste and salt to soak up heat from the sun or factories. When you need air conditioning, it releases that stored energy to chill water without needing a power-hungry compressor.
Building and industrial cooling contribute over 200 Mtons of CO2eq annually. Current systems are expensive, electricity-dependent, and fail to utilize the 183 TWh of available industrial waste heat in the EU.
A laboratory-scale sorption cooling system using biochar-based thermochemical materials and water as a refrigerant.
If you are a data center operator dealing with massive amounts of waste heat—which in the EU reaches 183 TWh between 100°C and 200°C—this project developed a sorption chiller that uses that heat to provide cooling. This turns a waste byproduct into a resource, reducing electricity costs and carbon footprints.
If you are a developer dealing with high energy costs for summer cooling—where renewable penetration is currently only 10%—this project developed a modular thermochemical storage system. It allows you to store solar thermal energy in the summer for later use, reducing the building's reliance on the electricity grid.
If you are a plant manager dealing with low-grade waste heat between 60-150 °C, this project developed a bio-based chiller that uses water as a refrigerant. It offers a way to cool processes using existing heat streams, aiming for a 50% cost reduction compared to current sorption chillers.
The project targets a 50% cost reduction compared to current state-of-the-art sorption chillers. This is achieved through the use of inexpensive biochar from agricultural by-products.
The project aims to advance the technology to TRL4, meaning it is currently being validated in a laboratory setting rather than at an industrial scale.
Based on available project data, the project is in the early stages of development (TRL4) and focuses on creating the materials and thermopiles; specific licensing terms are not yet listed.
The system decouples refrigeration from the electricity grid by using waste heat or renewable sources (solar thermal or wind-to-heat) between 60-150 °C.
The project period runs from October 2024 to September 2028, focusing on reaching laboratory validation (TRL4) by the end of the term.
The consortium is heavily academic, consisting of 5 universities and only 1 SME, resulting in an industry ratio of 17%. While this ensures strong scientific rigor in material science and thermodynamic engineering across 5 countries, the low industrial presence suggests the project is currently focused on fundamental R&D rather than immediate commercial scaling.
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