Imagine taking the leftover dirt and rocks from old mines and turning them into a device that catches heat. Usually, these devices use a very rare and expensive metal from China, but this project uses common minerals found in European waste. It's like recycling trash to build a battery that runs on heat.
Commercial heat-to-electricity devices rely on tellurium, which is expensive, scarce, and mostly controlled by China, creating a supply chain risk for EU industries.
A tellurium-free p-type thermoelectric device made from recycled mine waste sulphides. It includes a process for mineral separation and concentration of tetrahedrite.
If you are a plant operator dealing with massive amounts of wasted industrial heat — this project developed tellurium-free thermoelectric devices that capture this heat and turn it into electricity. This reduces fossil fuel consumption and lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
If you are a shipbuilder dealing with heat rejected from large marine engines — this project developed a sustainable energy harvesting system. It uses recycled mine waste to create power, improving the overall efficiency of the vessel's energy consumption.
If you are a hardware developer dealing with the high cost of powering off-grid sensors — this project developed a p-type thermoelectric element. It provides a primary power source for IoT devices by harvesting ambient heat without relying on expensive tellurium.
Based on available project data, the system replaces expensive and scarce tellurium with abundant sulphides from mine waste, making the devices more economically viable.
The project is currently demonstrating the feasibility of these devices for industrial waste heat recovery. It involves 7 industrial partners to ensure the production and exploitation supply chain.
Based on available project data, the project aims to build an innovation ecosystem in the EU, but specific licensing terms are not detailed in the summary.
The project runs from 2022-06-01 to 2026-05-31, with current achievements reported up to month 32.
The devices are designed to be applied to heat rejected from industrial processes, acting as a recovery system to increase overall energy efficiency.
The consortium is highly balanced for commercialization, featuring a 47% industry ratio with 7 industrial partners and 8 SMEs. With 15 partners across 11 countries, the group combines geological research with a full production and exploitation supply chain, reducing the gap between lab discovery and market entry.
Contact Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P. in Portugal
Contact us to connect with the START consortium for pilot testing.
