The heat trap is hotter than 1,000 degrees Celsius thanks to sunlight

A team of ETH Zurich experts developed a heat trap that can absorb concentrated sunlight, creating extremely high levels of heat for production.

The production of cement, metals and many chemical products requires extremely high temperatures, over 1,000 degrees Celsius. Currently, this heat is often created by burning fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas. However, it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. Using renewable electricity is not a suitable alternative because it is inefficient at such high heat levels.

The scientific team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) developed a method to help these industries not rely on fossil fuels, and has now verified it in the laboratory, SciTechDaily reported on May 28. believe. New research published in the journal Device.

The main component of the heat trap includes a cylinder made of quartz, which reached a temperature of 1,050 degrees Celsius in the experiment and glowed. (Photo: ETH Zurich/Emiliano Casati)

Using solar radiation, a research team led by scientist Emiliano Casati and professor Aldo Steinfeld developed a heat trap with the ability to provide the extremely high heat levels needed for the production process. The device consists of a quartz cylinder attached to a ceramic absorber. Thanks to its optical properties, this absorber can effectively absorb sunlight and convert it into heat.

For laboratory experiments, the research team used a quartz cylinder 30 cm long and 7.5 cm in diameter. They exposed the rod to artificial light 135 times more intense than sunlight, reaching temperatures of up to 1,050 degrees Celsius. Previous studies by other research groups have reached a maximum temperature of only 170 degrees Celsius. degrees Celsius with such a heat trap.

Industrial-scale solar energy concentration systems have been built to produce solar power in some places such as Spain, the US, and China. They typically operate at a maximum temperature of 600 degrees Celsius. At higher temperatures, radiant heat loss increases and reduces plant efficiency. A big advantage of the heat trap developed by the ETH Zurich team of experts is minimizing radiant heat loss.

"Our approach significantly improves the efficiency of solar energy absorption. We are therefore confident that this technology helps accelerate the deployment of high-temperature solar plants ," said Casati. speak. But he said, more detailed economic and technological analyzes still need to be conducted.

Casati is continuing research to optimize the process. In the future, this technology could enable the use of solar energy not only to produce electricity but also to decarbonize energy-intensive industries on a large scale. "To fight climate change, we need to decarbonize energy in general ," Casati said.