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TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

Novel Chemical Heat Pump Reactor Configurations for Temperature Boosting

An innovative rod system for reactors that enables reactivity control and reactor coolant heating and reheating.

Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize this new advanced manufacturing technique for heat transfer components. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses, and, ultimately, an improved way of life for the American people.

Overview: Energy costs are rising, and market forces are continually impacting the economic viability of power generators, particularly nuclear plants. Improvements must be made to the economics of nuclear plants by providing energy storage and temperature-boosting capabilities to develop niche non-power industrial applications. Thermochemical energy storage is based on a reversible reaction, with an endothermic reaction converting thermal energy into chemical energy of the products for energy storage. Stored energy is recovered as heat by recombining the products in the reverse exothermic reaction.

Description: Researchers at Idaho National Lab have designed an innovative chemical heat pump reactor that features the decomposition of alkaline earth metal hydroxide as the energy storage step. The reaction results in solid-phase calcium oxide and water vapor as the products, which are stored separately. The separation of products is facilitated by them being in different phases. Thermal energy is recovered by contacting the two products and reforming calcium hydroxide via the exothermic reaction. This reverse reaction can achieve higher temperatures than initial decomposition reactions by manipulating the reaction conditions. The reaction system thus functions as a chemical heat pump, upgrading the quality of the thermal energy. This design enables repeated process cycles with high efficiency.

Benefits:

• Vastly improves the viability and profitability of commercial reactors.

Applications:

• Commercial reactors


• Energy Storage

Development Status: TRL 4 system has been validated in a laboratory environment.

IP Status: Provisional Application No. 63/269,761, “Reversible Reaction, Multi-Stage and Multi-Bed Chemical Heat Pumps, Reversible Reaction Systems, and Related Methods,” BEA Docket No. BA-1336.

INL seeks to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.

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