Abstract
Rapid depletion of fossil fuels due to the growing demand for energy has resulted in a worldwide concern to improve energy conversion efficiency. Yet, the energy conversion of conventional fossil fuel power generation plants remains relatively low (less than 40%) and a huge amount of energy is wasted in the form of heat, leading to global warming issues. Recycling and recuperating even a small portion of energy losses could provide a huge impact on energy saving and minimize the reliance on fossil fuels. Thermophotovoltaic system appears to be a potential candidate to capture, recover, and convert waste heat energy into useful electricity. This paper presents an overview of the recent development of thermophotovoltaic technology for waste heat recovery applications. Each component in the thermophotovoltaic system including thermophotovoltaic generator/heat source, thermal emitter, spectral filter and thermophotovoltaic cells is vital and can be engineered to achieve a better heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency. Recently, researchers have shown great interest in near-field thermophotovoltaic systems where higher power intensity can be captured by the thermophotovoltaic cell, thus improving the overall system performance. Furthermore, the potential locations for energy scavenging in thermal power plants is investigated based on the on-site temperature measurement. In Malaysia, it is estimated that around 3,831 GWh of waste heat energy could be saved in operational thermal power plants. This review will contribute to the knowledge for future development thermophotovoltaic systems in waste heat recovery applications while summarizing the potential locations for energy scavenging in thermal power plants.
Highlights
Fossil fuels are nowadays the primary source of energy for human activities and have been a driving force behind the global economic development for past centuries
In 1956, the first invention of elementary TPV system was proposed by Dr Henry Kolm at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, in which an incandescent gas mantle was used as the emitter on a silicon solar cell photovoltaic converter with a conversion efficiency of 5-10% [5], [6]
The system is assembled from a heat source, emitter, filter and TPV cells
Summary
Fossil fuels are nowadays the primary source of energy for human activities and have been a driving force behind the global economic development for past centuries. The overall efficiency of a modern fossil fuel-fired power generation plant achieves only around 40% and could be as low as 30% for an older power plant [4] This means that more than 60% of the energy input is released as waste heat at the output. The waste heat is released in the form of radiation from the surface of the hot equipment to the ambient environment reducing the overall energy efficiency of the power generation process. In this regard, thermophotovoltaic (TPV) device is a viable solution that can improve the energy conversion efficiency by converting the otherwise wasted radiant energy into useful electricity. This review will provide an insight into the future development of TPV technology, for waste heat recovery applications
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