Evaluation of glaciothermal engines for the generation of polar renewable energy ...

• Main Author: Smith, Zane
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Antarc*; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23240213.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Evaluation_of_glaciothermal_engines_for_the_generation_of_polar_renewable_energy/23240213/1

Providing reliable power services to remote Arctic and Antarctic locations presents a formidable task. Delivery of fossil fuel poses expensive logistical challenges, especially for sites subject to restricted seasonal access. Locally renewable wind and solar energy resources help to supplement diesel and other hydrocarbon fuels, but the search continues for viable energy alternatives. Latent heat from freezing seawater or meltwater can be used to boil a high pressure organic working fluid and drive a fluid expander to generate electrical power. The extreme chill of cold polar air provides the essential heat sink to recondense the exhaust vapour. These sources provide an opportunity to generate power from seawater using glaciothermal power cycles. Ambient temperatures may fall below -80 ¬∞C during winter at elevated interior sites, and as low as -60 ¬∞C at high latitude ice shelf sites. A large amount of heat is released when water freezes (~335 MJ per tonne of ice formed) ‚- equivalent to energy ...