Liquid air to fuel UK low carbon engineering economy 26 September 2012

Academics, government officials and industry executives will meet at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on 2 October to kick off a programme aimed at harnessing liquid air to deliver a zero carbon economy and boost British business.

We're coming out of the cave blinking on this one and we're only just getting an inkling of how great the energy storage benefits of liquid air could be," comments Dr Tim Fox, head of energy & environment at the IMechE.

Although cryogenic liquids are widely used in industry already, their adoption as an energy vector is only just beginning, and is not yet part of the mainstream energy debate, he notes.

However, UK companies are already securing strategic partnerships around the world, as well as in the UK, for liquid air energy solutions.

"Liquid air and liquid nitrogen are an exciting alternative [to batteries and pumped hydro plant] that we should explore to store energy. It seems to address many of the challenges we face and is affordable, uses mature components and is highly scalable," states Fox.

And he makes the point that, whereas the UK has limited ability in terms of battery technology, the country does have world class mechanical and thermal engineering expertise and one of the densest concentrations of cryogenics expertise in the world – the British Cryogenic Cluster.

As Dr Andy Atkins, chief engineer of technology at Ricardo, says: "We don't have a globally significant battery industry in the UK, but we do have world class cryogenics and mechanical engineering sectors. With the right support from government, Britain could steal a march in this technology and capture many of the jobs it would create."

And Toby Peters, one of the founders of Highview Power Storage and Dearman Engine Company – two technology firms using liquid air as the working fluid – adds: "This is absolutely about harnessing an existing knowledge base for innovation. We are using mature technologies, but redeploying them in new and fast growing markets."

Peters is crystal clear on the opportunities for UK plc: "This is cheaper and quicker to market, offering lower technology risk to the customer and new commercial opportunities to the existing supply chain and research institutions, without the need for massive upfront capital investment in manufacturing processes or infrastructure. It's all there."

Energy storage and zero-emission powertrains for transport are industries worth tens of billions of pounds and tens of thousands of jobs, but they are currently dominated by America and Asia. Developing a UK industry which requires limited investment in new expertise or manufacturing plant is a huge economic opportunity for UK.

Supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the British Cryogenic Cluster, the Centre for Low Carbon Futures and a number of UK Universities, academics and industry representatives are setting up a working group to assess and quantify the future role of liquid air as an energy vector in the UK and abroad.

Brian Tinham

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