Adriano Sciacovelli has just joined DTU as Professor in Thermomechanical Storage Systems. He also plays an important role in the IEA Energy Storage Task 44 focusing on Power-to-Heat and Heat integrated Carnot Batteries. Here he leads a subtask about the technological landscape.

By Julie Søgaard

It has just been a few days since Professor Adriano Sciacovelli set foot on Danish soil, when DaCES meets him in his new office at the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at DTU in Kongens Lyngby.

For the last 10 years Adriano Sciacovelli has been doing research at University of Birmingham (UK) – most recently as Associate Professor. Before that he worked at Politecnico di Torino (ITA), where he initially focused his research on energy storage.

”Particularly thermal energy storage where heat and cold is the key aspect, and large-scale thermo-mechanical energy storage systems that can be integrated into heat and power to decarbonize how the thermal energy is supplied,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

Here, he mentions two advanced thermal storage systems using so-called phase change materials and thermochemical materials, which are storing by exploiting other physical phenomena such as solidification and melting or reactions as an indirect way to store thermal energy. Examples of thermo-mechanical storage systems include Carnot Batteries and Liquid air energy storage.

In this way the system can become much more efficient, much more compact and have higher storage of energy in smaller volumes.

“These activities are the core of my research today and also of the IEA Energy Storage Task 44, which are thermomechanical storage systems, sometimes called Carnot Batteries. The task focuses on heat integrated Carnot Batteries,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

DaCES is also a part of Task 44 along with other Danish participants.

Multiple emerging Carnot Battery technologies

Heat integrated Carnot Batteries means that the central pillar remains thermal energy storage components, usually at higher temperatures, but well-integrated with the conversion of power to heat, such as heat pumping cycles.

“This could be in industrial processes where the thermal energy produced with renewables is first stored and then supplied at most convenient time as process heat in the industry. The industry has a high demand for energy in the form of heat to run their processes, treating materials and running other production lines,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

In Task 44 Adriano Sciacovelli leads a subtask with focus on the technological landscape.

“Here we are trying to capture and formalize a framework to compare the technical performances of the multiple technologies that are emerging at the moment. One of the interesting areas of Carnot Batteries is that it’s a very heterogeneous space,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

The subtask has now collected the necessary data and is in the phase of synthesizing this data and cross-comparing it. The important thing is that this data also feeds into the other parts of the overall task.

“It informs other subtask activities what happens later on in the task itself. And we are approximately one-third along the way of the overall task,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

Looking forward to become a part of the Danish energy storage environment

As new Professor at DTU Adriano Sciacovelli is looking forward to contribute to the mission of a technical university like DTU, which is to advance the fundament of applied sciences for the greater good of people and society.

“And it fits very well with the broader mission of my research,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

He is also looking forward to contribute to the ongoing activities and growing interest in storage at the national level across Denmark and to initiatives like DaCES.

“Obviously, the task and myself are certainly keen to engage with the dynamic environment in Denmark and the Danish Center for Energy Storage,” Adriano Sciacovelli says.

Therefore, Professor Adriano Sciacovelli is of course joining DaCES Working Group on Thermal Energy Storage.