Did you know that there is something like blue energy, also called 'Blue Energy'? That way you can generate power from water. Blue Energy uses the difference in salt concentration between, for example, sea and river water. The principle for this dates back to the 1970s, but only a few years ago the technology is good enough to make real work of it. Blue energy storage: the world's cleanest battery!
Searching For Green Energy: 'Blue Energy'
This is done, for example, on the Afsluitdijk (Netherlands), which separates the salty Wadden Sea from the sweet IJsselmeer. The principle behind 'Blue Energy' is as simple as it is genius. If salt (sea) water comes into contact with fresh (river) water, the dissolved salt would love to go to the freshwater. This results in a flow of positive (sodium) and negative (chlorine) charged atoms (ions). If you separate them from each other, a positive and a negative pole is created just like in a battery. If you connect the two to each other with a cable, there is current that you can use.
The world's first blue-powerplant in the Netherlands on the Afsluitdijk. The Afsluitdijk dams off the Zuiderzee and is a saltwater inlet of the North Sea. Because of the Afsluitdijk, the IJsselmeer lake is the largest freshwater basin of the Netherlands. Another function of the dike is the connection it makes between Friesland and North Holland (Yes, cars drive over the dike).
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It’s a pretty cool story actually, as it seems that where salt water and fresh water meet it’s possible to generate energy out of this. Never heard of it before, but it sure sounds like a pretty safe and green way to get energy. So how does it work? Well, saltwater has a lot more charged salt particles, ions, than freshwater. If you separate the salt and fresh water by a special filter that only allows either positive or negative charged particles through then the difference in tension generates energy. Well yes, I read it too but still don’t quite understand, but I get a basic grasp. The plant at the Afsluitdijk is actually a test installation that allows scientists to further explore this way of generating energy. According to calculation, the Afsluitdijk should be able to power about 500,0000 households.
Blue Energy from Holland
Chemistry plays a crucial role in building this 'Blue Battery'. In order to separate the positive and negative particles (the ions), you need membranes. These are thin partitions that chemists make. By playing on the lab with the substances in it, they can build membranes that only allow certain atoms to pass through.
For example, on the left, you only collect the positive ions, and on the right only the negative ions. The result: 'Blue Energy', thanks to chemistry. There is a large pilot plant on the Afsluitdijk to make the idea of 'Blue Energy' a reality. The University of Twente, water research institute Wetsus and Fujifilm are closely involved.
'Blue Power Plant' Inventor Gets The Kivi Award
The Academic Society Award from the Royal Institute of Engineers (Kivi) goes to Kitty Nijmeijer. The Professor of Membrane Technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology is conducting pioneering research that led to the construction of the first 'Blue Power' plant in the world, on the Afsluitdijk.
Professor Nijmeijer (Kitty) Nijmeijer working in her lab holding a membrane
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Nijmeijer receives the prize because of the great importance of her research and the appealing way in which she manages to connect science and society. She was be awarded on 'the Day of the Engineer'.
Membranes can also be used for the removal of medicine residues from water, the recovery of valuable substances so that they can be reused and for making bioplastics or biofuels.
"I am very happy and very honored to have won the Academic Society Award", says Nijmeijer. "Since the beginning of my scientific career I have tried to connect research and society, even when it was not so obvious, and this award is a great recognition for me personally and for the research of our group."
Making circular economy feasible Professor Nijmeijer continues: "I notice that people often do not know how important research and technology is for humanity, and technology will become even more important in the future, and I am convinced that we will have to transform our linear economy into a sustainable, circular This is a huge technological and social transition, and only engineers can translate abstract scientific research into concrete applications By telling us in an understandable way about our research, I want to show them how beautiful technology is and I want to convey that virtually everything we use, consume and do is only possible thanks to that technology. "Kivi director Micaela dos Ramos: "The research of Professor Kitty Nijmeijer brings important innovations at the interface of sustainable energy, water, materials, and raw materials.
Kivi distinguishes it because of the high quality and societal significance of its research and the way in which it to work tirelessly through various bodies to generate knowledge and awareness for these themes and to stimulate the debate."
Source Engeneersonline
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