Hs chem 2010_nov10

WELCOME

TO

CHEMISTRY

1Instructor: Mrs. Balla HSChem_2010Nov10

Let’s

Discuss…

Storing

Solar Energy

Indefinitely

Instructor: Mrs. Balla HSChem_2010Nov10 2

Instructor: Mrs. Balla 3

Introduction

We all know about solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy, but MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is coming back to a solar energy idea that was dreamt up decades ago but left on the bench due to our inability to gather and make use of it in a practical and economical way.

“This is the thermo-chemical approach, in which solar energy is captured in the configuration of certain molecules which can then release the energy on demand to produce usable heat,” David L. Chandler of MIT reports.


The big advantage of this approach is that the heat-storing chemicals used can store the heat for years.

In the normal solar-thermal approach, even with a lot of insulation, heat leaks out.

Additionally, the process is reversible in this approach and the energy can be easily transferred from one place to another.

So, it can be collected in a place ideal for collecting the energy but then used wherever needed.

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/11/08/storing-solar-energy-indefinitely-new-energy-storage-approach-from-mit-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

http://cleantechnica.com/2010/11/08/storing-solar-energy-indefinitely-new-energy-storage-approach-from-mit-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+cleantechnica+(CleanTechnica)


In an extreme example demonstrating this

approach’s advantages, Jeffrey Grossman, the Carl

Richard Soderberg Associate Professor of Power

Engineering in the Department of Materials Science

and Engineering, said: “You could put the fuel in the

sun, charge it up, then use the heat, and place the

same fuel back in the sun to recharge.”


Here’s a little more history on the thermo-chemical approach and MIT’s recent breakthrough:

◦ Researchers explored this type of solar thermal fuel in the 1970s, but there were big challenges: Nobody could find a chemical that could reliably and reversibly switch between two states, absorbing sunlight to go into one state and then releasing heat when it reverted to the first state.

◦ Such a compound was discovered in 1996, but it included ruthenium, a rare and expensive element, so it was impractical for widespread energy storage.

◦ Moreover, no one understood how the compound worked, which hindered efforts to find a cheaper variant.

◦ Now researchers at MIT have overcome that obstacle, with a combination of theoretical and experimental work that has revealed exactly how the molecule, called fulvalene diruthenium, accomplishes its energy storage and release.

◦ And this understanding, they said, should make it possible to find similar chemicals based on more abundant, less expensive materials than ruthenium.

Instructor: Mrs. Balla

7

The problem is still finding an alternative to the very rare and expensive (element ruthenium, but the researchers from this project are much more hopeful now that they can find an alternative.

According to Grossman, the next step is “to use a combination of simulation, chemical intuition, and databases of tens of millions of known molecules to look for other candidates that have structural similarities and might exhibit the same behavior.”


Basic Information of Ruthenium

Name: Ruthenium Symbol: RuAtomic Number: 44 Atomic Mass: 101.07 amuMelting Point: 2250.0 °C (2523.15 K, 4082.0 °F) Boiling Point: 3900.0 °C (4173.15 K, 7052.0 °F) Number of Protons/Electrons: 44 Number of Neutrons: 57 Classification: Transition MetalCrystal Structure: Hexagonal Density @ 293 K: 12.2 g/cm3

Color: silvery

Number of Energy Levels: 5 First Energy Level: 2 Second Energy Level: 8 Third Energy Level: 18 Fourth Energy Level: 15 Fifth Energy Level: 1

Facts

Date of Discovery: 1844 Discoverer: Karl Klaus Name Origin: From the Latin word Ruthenia (Russia) Uses: platinum alloys Obtained From: pentlandite, pyroxinite

http://www.chemicalelements.com/groups/transition.html

Review


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1. What is the thermo-chemical approach

to solar energy storage?

Solar energy is captured in the configuration of certain

molecules which can then release the energy on

demand to produce usable heat.

2. What is the big advantage of this

approach?The heat-storing chemicals used can store the heat for

years.

3. Is the process reversible?

yes

4. Can the energy be easily transferred from

one place to another?

yes

5. How long has been this research been

going on?

since the 1970’s


Questions? Questions? Questions?

11

What’s on

your mind?



What was

the best part

of your

Science lesson

this past week?



What

are the challenges

that you had

this

past week

In Chemistry?

13Instructor: Mrs. Balla


What

Chemistry

topic

will you

be working on

this

coming week?

14Instructor: Mrs. Balla


What

Chemistry

topic

would you

like to know

more

about?


15

Hs chem 2010_nov10

Education