Energy Management Strategy
In developing a comprehensive Energy Management Strategy some basic assumptions must be taken into account in regards to
efficiency & losses.
If any particular energy conversion process is rated as a 20% efficiency, what is the other 80% ?
In the recycling industry we have been taught to pay attention to the residual percentage of materials
that are considered as waste.
The Recovery 2.0 concept views energy as a commodity and is therefore treated like any other basic material.
If inefficiency and losses are inherent in all energy
transformation
processes, then a Multi-Stage Strategy may be devised
to minimize the waste.
Multi-Stage Energy Management Strategy
Implementing an Energy Management Strategy which is a Multi-stage approach, where the efficiency or losses of one stage
become the energy source for the next stage, may assist in an overall optimization.
We have put together an illustration of how a 5 stage cycle could potentially recover over 96.8 % of the initial energy input.
While this is not a realistic representation of real life applications, it does demonstrate the Multi-Stage impact.
A lower efficiency energy harvesting process may dictate the need for additional stages, at some point the remaining residual energy
may either be cycled back into an earlier stage and absorbed or if unharvestable be an ultimate loss to the system.
Energy Recovery Spectrum
Active vs. Passive Spectrum
The energy recovery spectrum is expansive in its scope of types of energy that may be recovered and
methods deployed to harvest that energy.
In order to properly access these widely varied approaches, some sort of standardized methodology to preform
a levelized comparison must be developed.
Determining an evaluation for systems that range from simple passive solid state installations to
high maintenance, complicated kinetic approaches that are desirable or compatible with any operation.
The
scale of energy
available to be harvested spans from nano, micro or small scale up to industrial class or
grid scale levels.
In order to build a foundation of harvested energy, the construction of a matrix of energy blocks may be
accumulated utilizing different scales from across the recovered energy spectrum.
The formation of nano energy blocks by combining a number of nano energy
harvesting
modules into
arrays
and by consolidating the nano blocks with micro energy blocks you may begin to form the basis of an energy pyramid.
The accumulation of Nano, micro and small scale energy blocks will result in the consolidation of industrial scale energy levels.
The continuous flow of rectified energy through the capacitor network will create an amplified heart beat or pulse of energy
that may be consumed or stored.
The energy management
control system
may be hard wired or due to close proximity within the Recovery 2.0 facility
may possibly be developed as a wireless energy transfer system.
Energy Output Yield
In order to determine the
Levelized Energy Cost
we must look at 6 key factors,
CAPEX - Capital Cost
OPEX - Direct Operation Costs
Energy Input Cost
Gross Energy Production
Internal Consumption Factor
Net Energy Output Yield
Levelized Energy Cost
Capital Cost
The capital cost fully installed and operational along with all of the amortization assumptions
and calculations to determine a cost/unit of output.
Direct Operation Costs
Direct operational costs, all maintenance and supporting costs expressed as a cost/unit of output.
Energy Input Cost
The cost of the raw energy input with the conversion efficiency factored in so as to arrive at a
calculated cost/unit of output. The input energy cost may be zero depending on how the multi-stage accounting allocation is applied.
Gross Energy Production
Gross Energy Production is a calculation of the total energy generated from the process before the
Internal Consumption Factor is applied to determine the Net Energy Output Yield.
Internal Consumption Factor
The Internal Consumption Factor is a method to account for the energy consumed internally that is required
to produce the gross energy output,
an inefficiency factor within a particular recovery process that represents
the quantity of energy that is not available to extract as an output yield.
Net Energy Output Yield
The Net Energy Output Yield represents the actual net energy harvested and transferred as usable energy into the
energy management control system to be immediately available for consumption in the internal grid, available for external sales
or routed into the internal energy storage grid.
Levelized Energy Cost
A cost value may be determined as a Levelized Energy Cost by assessing each of the above 6 factors.
Consolidating Harvested Energy
The Energy
Harvesting Modules
may be stacked into various array configurations and any number of arrays may be
consolidated.
The harvested energy yield may be integrated into a smart energy management control system and dispatched by priority need.
Energy Management Control System
The development of a Smart Energy Management Control System (EMCS) that has the ability to dispatch or distribute energy
where and when it is required.
Evolving the practical skill set to manage the
accumulation
of nano, micro and small scale harvested energy and to
consolidate that usable energy into an internal grid.
The EMCS may dispatch, on a priority basis, energy as required for consumption within the Recovery 2.0 internal grid.
Any temporary surplus energy may be routed into an internal storage grid for use at a later time.
The stored energy may be retrieved on demand to mitigate intermittent energy dips in order to optimize the overall
Recovery 2.0 operations efficiency.
The tightly knit symbiotic relationship between the process stages within the Recovery 2.0 pathways may allow
for some unusual efficiency consolidation benefits.
Harvesting some additional external fuels, such as solar and wind, or utilizing energy assist sources such as gravity
in the Recovery 2.0 processes may provide the potential opportunity to eliminate the external cost of the primary stage energy.
Where market conditions allow, energy may be sold to external customers or an external grid to reinforce the strategy of
Electricity as a commodity and enhance the potential revenue streams.
Energy Transfer Fluids
The use of specific combinations of fluids as an energy transfer media may enable the achievement of
new unprecedented levels of efficiency.
The Recovery 2.0 process is based upon 4 (four) key
Working Fluids.
Managing the complex relationship of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics of specific fluids and understanding
the unique dynamics of
phase change
of each material and how they interact is essential.
Any number of fluids, in the form of liquids or gases, may be used to transfer energy from one fluid to an other.
The interaction between pressurized non-compressible liquids and compressed gasses presents
some unique energy harvesting opportunities.
Common fluids
used may include Air,
Compressed Air,
Water,
CO2,
Nitrogen,
Ammonia,
Inert Gases,
Refrigerants and Oils
The strategic use of heat pumps and heat engines to harness energy transfer and
heat exchange
transcends multiple disciplines
across the energy sector.
The Expansion and compression cycle and the evaporation and condensing cycle of gases or the heating and cooling of fluids
provide numerous variations of opportunities to harness or store energy.
The strategic placement of a
Centripetal
turbo unit may be used to accelerate the velocity of a working fluid.
In addition there is an opportunity to harness energy from the flow of ionic fluids in a
MHD System.
Energy Storage
- Battery Banks
- Thermal Energy Storage
- Compressed Air Storage
- Exothermic Element Storage
Short Cycle Regeneration
- Hydro Energy
- Wind Energy
- Gravity Energy
- Gradient Energy
Energy Sources
- Solar
- Electricity
- Waste Heat
- Optional Sidestreams
Understanding Energy & Recovery
- Energy as a Commodity
- Recovered Energy
Summary
One of the primary goals of the
Recovery 2.0
system is the recovery of elemental resources from waste materials.
Since the thermal reduction and recycling process is energy intense,
it is imperative to devise a multifaceted
Strategy
to maximize the energy recovery potential.
Developing flexible
pathway
options for
Energy Harvesting,
some focused on generating
Electricity
and others are centered around energy storage modules.
Refining techniques such as Molten Media
Extraction
or Oxidation/Reduction &
Displacement
are examples of symbiotic methods of selective
Reactivate Materials
recovery.
Harvesting Energy across a wide
Range
from the recovery
Spectrum
assists in achieving a goal of
Mass Balance
Equilibrium.
Harnessing a mix of Temperature, Pressure and
Velocity
enables multiple combinations of harvesting and storage including
Exothermic
Energy Extraction and
Hydrometallurgy.
