High energy density heat storage materials for recovery of high grade heat

Generating heat causes around one third of UK greenhouse emissions. The UK 2011 Carbon Plan requires virtually zero carbon buildings in the UK by 2050. Heat storage is a key component when generating heat from intermittent renewable sources or to shift heat production to off-peak periods while heat consumption remains on-peak. Today, water-based thermal stores are commmon in the UK, but their large size make them undesirable or impossible to fit in smaller dwellings. Sunamp's heat battery technology uses Phase Change Materials to shrink heat storage to around one quarter the size of equivalent hot water thermal stores. This project allows Sunamp to rapidly increase the range of temperatures at which heat can be stored in Phase Change Materials, investigating materials with high effectivenes in the 75-90°C range to be used in tandem with high-temperature renewable heat sources, e.g. solar thermal systems, CHP, CO2 heat pumps and biomass boilers.