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ICE COLD TECH IS A RED HOT IDEA
David Grundy describes the revolutionary ‘cold battery’ that has been created in Lancashire as a clever version of a children’s ‘slushie’ drink.
It’s a lot more complicated than that. Thornton based company Organic Heat Exchangers’ (O-Hx) patented ‘EnergiVault’ cold thermal energy storage system is truly game-changing.
It is designed to store and rapidly release cooling power for industrial-scale applications. It’s little wonder David, the company’s commercial director, describes the global market for the product as “absolutely massive”.
The technology developed on the Fylde coast is designed to shift refrigeration’s high energy demand to more economic off-peak periods.
O-Hx and its work is a great example of Lancashire’s industry leading innovation as it looks to be a major player in the low carbon sector, which it is estimated could be worth over £1trn domestically by 2030.
The system uses perfectly round tiny ‘binary ice’ crystals that do not clump together, flow as a liquid, store vulnerable but valuable refrigeration loads and melt rapidly when needed.
The units, which can be powered by renewable energy and fitted inside a standard 20-foot storage container, are able to store and then discharge 1MWh of cold energy in less than two hours, mainly to replace or supplement existing or new chillers being used for air-conditioning and process cooling.
By charging at a ‘trickle rate’, they reduce running costs and carbon emissions, while improving reliability and scalability.
To put things into context, it is estimated that around 10 per cent of global electrical energy powers industrial cooling, typically in chilled warehouses, pharmaceutical and food manufacturing plants and data centres. The figure is predicted to rise closer to 25 per cent if global warming continues at current rates.
The combined commercial value of cold energy storage in the UK, EU and USA alone is estimated to be around £7bn.
O-Hx has moved from proof-of-concept to being on the cusp of commercialisation. The technology is live and being utilised at three sites, including a vertical farming facility in
Dundee and a pharmaceutical plant in Northumberland.
Discussions are taking place with the NHS and the Manchester Airport Group (MAG). The technology does not come cheap, the price-tag is around £200,000 a unit.
The venture is the brainchild of Fleetwood born engineer Bob Long, who has decades of experience in applied thermodynamics. Now in his 70s, his business journey took him to South Africa before returning to his native Lancashire.
Proving the concept has taken years of R&D, early investment from the founders, and a relentless focus on solving the engineering challenges.
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