Natural gas is one of the main sources of energy both now and in the nearest future. It requires liquefaction for storage and transportation, which is currently carried out worldwide through energy-intensive, technically complex and expensive compressors operating at very low temperatures.
In the last decade the world scientific community has been actively engaged in the development of a new technology of magnetic cooling at room temperatures. But the proposed approach of using it exactly in the area of low temperatures allowed to create a process of effective liquefaction of almost any natural gases in one refrigeration unit. At the same time it will be more durable, safer to use and less noisy. This will solve the problem of energy storage and transportation and will give impetus to the development of new hydrogen energy.
Several years ago, a team of physicists fr om CSU, Technical University of Darmstadt and The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Germany) set out to develop fundamental aspects of using the magnetocaloric effect to liquefy gases. They investigated the possibility of using superconducting sources of strong magnetic fields, the behaviour of ferromagnetic materials in them, and analysed the possibilities of future technology and its implementation. The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation and the Helmholtz Association.
‘Due to recent advances in superconductivity and superconducting magnetic field sources, our research has focused on the application of the magnetocaloric effect observed in ferromagnetic materials. Namely in the area of low temperatures, wh ere the traditional technology of gas liquefaction based on compression becomes less and less effective. It turned out that this approach allows us to make a revolutionary breakthrough in gas liquefaction,’ explains Sergey Taskaev, the project leader and Rector of Chelyabinsk State University.
In the research conducted, new magnetic materials were synthesised and investigated, concepts for AMR heat exchangers were created and possible designs for liquefiers of natural gases based on the magnetic cooling effect were created. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf has already announced the start of work on the liquefier. Interested companies are invited to partner with the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf to develop a domestic prototype.
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