Update No 3, July 2014

7 Henrietta Street
London, WC2E 8PS

0203 617 9170

info@liquidair.org.uk

Early June saw the launch of LAENs latest

report, Liquid Air on the Highway, at an event
hosted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers
and Traders in London. On July 1, the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
organised a Clean and Cool Summit, the
climax of a two-day international conference
based on a pair of reports exploring the
potential of liquid air in the developing world.
This in turn was followed by a roadshow to
India to present the findings.
The evidence base is growing.
Speakers included:
Back (L-R): Professor Richard Williams, OBE;
Pawanexh Kohli; Eric Trachtenberg; Adam Chase
Front L-R: Dr Tim Fox; Dr R. K. Sharma;
Dr Lisa Kitinoja; Jacqueline Mkindi

A sustainable
cold chain
for the
developing
world

Speakers included Jacqueline Mkindi,

TAHA (Tanzania Horticultural
Association) and Dr Lisa Kitinoja,
Postharvest Education Foundation

Liquid air made an international splash

as experts gathered in London at the
end of June to launch an initiative which
could save millions of tonnes of wasted
food and cut pollution particularly in
the developing world.

The report calls for urgent action to

roll out a sustainable cold chain in the
developing world, which it says could
eliminate millions of tonnes of food
waste, alleviate hunger, improve global
food security and raise farmers incomes.

Over 100 delegates, including

government officials from India,
Malaysia and Tanzania, multinationals,
and academics from as far afield
as Australia, met to for two days
of discussion around the IMechEs
ground-breaking report, A Tank of
Cold: Cleantech Leapfrog to a More
Food Secure World.

The report also recommends a tank

of cold approach, since grid electricity
is often unreliable in developing
countries. If liquid air is produced from
local renewable energy it would serve
as a store of zero-emission power and
cooling for the entire cold chain from
farm to fork.

The report explores a major dilemma

for developing countries. In rural
areas, where the cold chain system of
refrigerated transport and storage is
rudimentary or non-existent, 30-50%
of perishable food is lost before ever
reaching a plate. Where cold chain
investment is booming in megacities
like Delhi and Beijing cooling is
powered largely by diesel, which only
exacerbates the chronic and highly toxic
smog. Outside air pollution in India
causes around 600,000 premature
deaths per year.

The Summit included presentations

from several cold chain experts,
including Dr Lisa Kitinoja of the
Postharvest Education Foundation, the
author of a detailed paper supporting
the IMechE report and Jacqueline
Mkindi, TAHA (Tanzania Horticultural
Association). Working groups reported
back the findings of their earlier
discussions, and delegates agreed the
next steps needed to set up pilot projects
in Tanzania and India. A group led
by Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy and
Environment, IMechE, went on to hold
a series of launch events in India.
www.liquidair.org.uk

IMechE report
& India roadshow

Following the launch of A Tank of

Cold: Cleantech Leapfrog to a More
Food Secure World, the lead author of
the report, Dr Tim Fox has embarked
on a roadshow of India.

food losses of
perishable goods
in the country are
as high as 50% and
the key to reducing
these is through
investment in a
sustainable cold chain.

The report found that food losses

of perishable goods in the country
are as high as 50% and the key to
reducing these is through investment
in a sustainable cold chain. The
report puts forward a vision of liquid
air as a solution meeting the needs of
the cold chain without catastrophic
environmental impact.

The Dearman Engine Company

has met with cold chain operators,
equipment manufacturers, postharvest
loss experts, NGOs and members of the
Indian government. There is a strong
appetite for field trials of the technology
in mobile and static applications.
Operators struggle with frequent power
cuts and dramatic increases in the
cost of diesel. Enthusiasm is high for a
technology that reduces dependency on
grid supply and can deliver reductions
in cost.
Toby Peters, Senior Group Managing
Director, Dearman Engine Company,
has been invited to present to industrial
leaders and government officials in a
special seminar at the British High
Commission in Pune in December
where the Dearman engine has been
selected by the Automobile Research
Association of India as one of two UK
technologies to explore.
www.liquidair.org.uk

At the launch of the report in London,

Pawanexh Kohli, Chief Advisor for the
Indian National Centre for Cold Chain
Development, showed that 88% of
cold chain facilities in the country are
static cold stores and what is needed is
refrigerated transport solutions.
This puts the Dearman engine
front-and-centre in India, where
investment in cold chain is booming.
The Dearman Engine Company has
sent out representatives to
engage with stakeholders alongside
the IMechE roadshow.

IMechEs report A Tank of Cold: Cleantech

Leapfrog to a More Food Secure World

Key findings
India is the worlds largest producer
of milk, and second only to China in
fruit and vegetables. Yet agriculture,
which occupies 53% of the workforce,
generates just 15% of GDP. Up to 50%
of produce can be lost before reaching
the consumer, due to issues such as
poor cold chain infrastructure,
at a cost of some US$4.5 billion.
India is a huge exporter of grains, but
exports very little horticultural produce.
Of total agricultural exports of US$37
billion, fruit and vegetables account for
just US$11.5 billion. Only 1011%
of the fruits and vegetables produced
use cold storage.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are
examples of two states that could use
existing surplus liquid nitrogen
capacity located in industrial cities
to develop a zero-emission cold
chain in India.

Report
recommendations
Governments of newly emerging and
rapidly industrialising economies must
prioritise and support investment in
cold chain infrastructure to improve
food security, underpin development
and help alleviate poverty.
Donor country governments and
development NGOs must support
and incentivise aid recipients to
develop sustainable cold chains using
renewable energy and waste cold.
The UK engineering community should
come together to define in detail the
potential opportunities a joinedup cold economy presents for the
developed and developing world.

For the full report and a summary, visit

liquidair.org.uk/clean-and-cool-summit

he cold economy:
beyond a sustainable
cold chain

The IMechE report suggests that if

developing countries adopt the liquid
air approach to cold chain, it could be
the start of a broader cold economy.
Renewably generated liquid air provides
a broad range of power and cooling
services, including air conditioning,
micro-grid generation and transport
fuel for zero-emission and heat hybrid
vehicles.
In the cold economy, liquid air could
be produced not only from renewable
energy, but also by harnessing the vast
amounts of stranded waste cold given off
by LNG import terminals. The report
estimates that, in theory, Chinas
2015 LNG import capacity could cool
390,000 refrigerated trucks using liquid
air as an energy vector more than the
countrys entire projected fleet.

current power output of Brazil which

if satisfied using current technologies
would cause carbon dioxide emissions
of over 2 billion tonnes and appalling
levels of urban air pollution. The cold
economy would provide low-carbon,
zero-emission cooling by integrating
renewable energy with liquid air power
and cooling technologies,
and by recycling vast amounts of cold
that currently go to waste.
Developing a cold economy would
call on skills in cryogenics and
mechanical engineering, areas in which
Britain is a world leader. Liquid air
technologies rely on piston engines, of
which Britain exported 1.6 million in
2012, and the UK cryogenics industry,
based largely in Oxfordshire, has a
combined turnover of 2 billion and
employs 20,000.

The need for a cold economy can only

become more urgent. We estimate that,
by 2030, global demand for cold will
increase by 340GW three times the

The case for a tank of cold

In her detailed paper supporting
the IMechE report, Dr Lisa Kitinoja
analyses the costs and benefits of a
tank of cold; with specific reference
to Tanzania and India.
The paper, Exploring the Potential for
Cold Chain Development in Emerging
and Rapidly Industrialising Economies
through Liquid Air Refrigeration
Technologies finds that in all cases,
liquid air technologies reduce
postharvest losses, increase farmers
incomes, and improve air quality.
The competitive position of liquid air
compared to diesel depends on the
specific application, but liquid air is
quite often cheaper than diesel
sometimes by 25% or more. Where
liquid air is the more expensive option,
it is often still cost effective as it would
www.liquidair.org.uk

repay its investment in avoided food losses

many times over. In some circumstances
liquid air transport refrigeration is
capable of pre-cooling produce (the
most energy intensive part of the cold
chain), which standard diesel transport
refrigeration units cannot deliver.
The paper also shows that if postharvest
losses of fresh produce could only be
halved from a conservative estimate of
30%, it would provide Eastern Africa
with an additional 15 million tonnes of
food, and South Asia an additional
73 million tonnes.

For the full report, visit

liquidair.org.uk/clean-and-cool-summit

Reports lead author

summarises the
potential of cryogenic
technologies
Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy and
Environment at IMechE and the reports
lead author, said: We currently produce
enough food, but the tragedy is that too
much of it is lost unnecessarily through
spoilage in developing countries, where
it is most needed, due to inadequate
infrastructure and in particular a lack of
cold and frozen supply chains.
Investment in cold chain infrastructure
driven by renewable energy is the key to
preventing these losses, alleviating world
hunger, improving health and air quality.
The Indian Government, as well as donor
Governments, NGOs involved in development
initiatives and retailers establishing supply
chains, need to prioritise investment into
affordable, reliable and sustainable cold
chain infrastructure. This includes combining
renewable energy with innovative technologies
for producing both power and cooling, such
as for example cryogenic energy storage using
liquid air or nitrogen.
At todays prices, using the cryogenic engine
technology highlighted in our new report
to provide the cooling of large refrigerated
lorry or rail containers will cost between a
fifth and a third of using diesel for the same
job. It has the added benefit of zero-emission
of pollutants at the point of use. When
combined with the increased income
to farmers from getting more produce to
market, this makes economic as well as
environmental sense. Getting started by
harnessing the waste cold available at LNG
regasification plants to produce the cryogen
needed leads to further financial gains since
up to two thirds of the energy used in the
process can be saved. India is well placed
to take this opportunity as it has both the
LNG infrastructure and the engineering
talent to make it happen. The country also
has a substantial amount of surplus nitogen
production capacity that could be used to get
started on using this technology.
Indias investment in cold chain is forecast to
be $15 billion over the next five years, and in
order to ensure this investment is sustainable
and cost effective in the long as well as short
term, it must focus on powering these cold
chains using renewable energy sources.

Liquid Air
on the
Highway:
the report
Part-funded by the Technology
Strategy Board (TSB) and published
by LAEN with the Centre for Low
Carbon Futures and the University
of Birmingham, Liquid Air on the
Highway investigates the potential
for liquid air technologies on
commercial vehicles in Britain
over the next decade.
The launch event at the Society of
Motor in London on June 4 was
evidence of the growing interest in
liquid air technologies among local
authorities and transport operators.
Delegates from industry, universities
and local government gathered to
discuss the results of the nine-month
project, which found that liquid air
transport technologies could not only
achieve major cuts in cost and carbon,
but also extraordinary reductions in
local air pollution.
While a number of engine concepts are
being developed, the report focuses
on the two closest to commercial
deployment: a zero-emission power
and cooling engine for truck and
trailer refrigeration, and a diesel-liquid
air heat hybrid engine for buses,
trucks and other commercial vehicles.
The Dearman Engine Company is
developing both applications its
transport refrigeration engine begins
on-vehicle testing this summer with
MIRA and Loughborough University,
and commercial production is
scheduled from 2016.
One of the reports most striking
findings was that transport
refrigeration units (TRUs) powered by
diesel can emit 6 times as much NOx
(nitrogen oxides) and 29 times as much
PM (particulate matter) as a Euro 6
truck propulsion engine. NOx and PM
pollution causes 29,000 premature
deaths in Britain each year, and costs
the economy 20 billion.
A projected fleet of just 13,000 liquid
air refrigerated trailers would reduce
www.liquidair.org.uk

PM emissions by the same amount

as taking 367,000 Euro 6 trucks off
the road, or three times the entire
UK fleet.
The report also demonstrates the
viability of liquid air as a potential
fuel. Liquid air is not yet produced
in commercial quantities, but liquid
nitrogen, which can be used in the
same way, is widely available. The
roll-out of liquid air vehicles could be
fuelled entirely from existing spare
liquid nitrogen capacity until at least
2019. All of Britains major cities are
within commercial delivery distance of
the existing liquid nitrogen distribution
network, and refuelling equipment for
fleet vehicles could be easily installed
at operators existing depots.
Delegates also heard that a Dearmanled consortium had just been awarded
a 2 million grant by the Technology
Strategy Bosrd to develop its heat
hybrid engine for buses and lorries
by 2016. The engine is projected to
cut diesel consumption by 25%, and
the consortium comprises Dearman
Engine Company, Air Products,
MIRA, Cenex, TRL and
The Manufacturing Technology Centre.
The report itself was produced
with the help of contributions from
Air Products, Arriva Yorkshire,
Go-Ahead, EYMS, DHL, Forkway
Ltd, Clugston Distribution Services,
Iceland Foods, Waitrose, Sainsburys,
Leeds City Council, Leeds Metro,
Leeds City Region, Hull City
Council, Birmingham City Council,
Loughborough University, University
of Birmingham, E4Tech, Ricardo, and
the Dearman Engine Company.

Key findings
Liquid Air on the Highway finds
that liquid air technologies would
produce major reductions in carbon
emissions and local air pollution
while simultaneously reducing
industry costs and creating jobs.
Modelling a UK fleet of refrigerated
trailers, trucks and buses that grows
to 36,000 vehicles by 2025, it finds
that liquid air could save 1 billion
litres of diesel, 1.4 million tonnes
of CO2e (well-to-wheels), and 113
million net of investment costs.

Q&A

Promising applications include

refrigerated trailers, which would
repay their investment cost in three
months, and diesel-liquid air heat
hybrid engines for trucks and buses,
which would reduce diesel consumption
by 25%.
The roll-out of liquid air vehicles could
be supported entirely from spare
industrial gas production capacity until
2019, and the production and export
of liquid air engines could create or
maintain over 2,100 jobs.

Report
recommendations
Regulate emissions from vehicle
refrigeration
The impact of vehicle refrigeration
on greenhouse gas emissions and
local air pollution is disproportionate.
In particular, transport refrigeration
units (TRUs) powered by auxiliary
diesel engines can emit many times
more NOx and PM than the trucks
main drive engine or a diesel
car because they are currently
unregulated.
Recognise liquid air
The potential of liquid air has
clearly been recognised by grant
funding bodies and by the European
Road Transport Advisory Council
(ERTRAC) as a potential road
transport energy vector; it ought to
be similarly recognised in UK
transport policy.
Review eligibility criteria for green
transport funding
The government is urged to review
its green transport funding
mechanisms to ensure they do not
inadvertently discriminate against
emerging technologies that might
reduce emissions at less cost to
the taxpayer.
Review green levies on liquid air and
liquid nitrogen used as transport fuel
The government is also urged to
review the imposition of green levies
on electricity used in the production
of energy vectors such as liquid air
or nitrogen.

For
summary,
Forthe
hefull
fullreport
reportand
andasummary,
visit liquidair.org.uk/highway

with Pat

Maughan
Managing Director
Hubbard Products Ltd

Hubbard and
Dearman
working
together
on transport
refrigeration
The Dearman Engine Company
has begun working with Hubbard
Products, who will be managing
the vehicle integration of the
Dearman engine liquid air transport
refrigeration system.
Part of the worldwide Zanotti group,
Hubbard Products Ltd is the UKs
principal designer, manufacturer and
supplier of refrigeration systems and
units and the leaders in refrigeration
for commercial vehicles and
refrigerated vans.
The objective of this collaboration is
to advance the technical, commercial
and industrial development of
the Dearman engine transport
refrigeration system to a stage
where Hubbard can manufacture,
integrate and market cooling systems

Why is Hubbard keen on this

partnership?
Hubbard, after many years of
refining design, has realised that
near-term future requirements cannot
be achieved with existing available
components and technologies. Hubbard
has enthusiastically engaged with
Dearman to jointly develop a transport
refrigeration system that will be the
paradigm shift to economic clean cold
on the highway. We have reviewed the
Dearman technology and concluded it
has enormous potential to revolutionise
both the emissions and costs inherent
in refrigerated road transport.
What types of vehicles will be trialled?
The Dearman engine-powered
Hubbard TRU is being developed for
application across the widest spectrum
of commercial vehicle requirement.
Hubbard has a long established track
record in the supply of TRUs ranging
from Home Delivery up to 3.5 tonnes
and Rigid Vehicles up to 27 tonnes as
well as Reefer/Trailers.

incorporating the Dearman engine in

commercial volumes.
The specific first objective is
for Dearman and Hubbard to
collaborate on commercial field trial
prototypes of the refrigerated vehicle
system early next year. In terms of
technical responsibility, Dearman
would supply the engine systems and
Hubbard the refrigeration equipment
combined with off-vehicle systems
integration elements. Hubbard would
not manufacture the Dearman engine
itself but is the system integrator
contracted by the major operators.
Hubbards membership of the
Zannotti Group, which has also
approved this deal, gives Dearman
the potential for a global refrigeration
system partner.

How much will it cost?

The Dearman engine-powered
Hubbard TRU will be commercially
competitive and an indicative price
range will be issued on completion
of the development and trial process,
expected by the end of 2015.
How will the units be maintained?
The Dearman engine-powered
Hubbard TRU will be serviced and
maintained by Hubbards existing
team of service engineers.
Who will the end user be for the
field trials?
Hubbard has an established working
relationship with all the UKs leading
high-street retailers and has over
recent years worked alongside these
retailers developing, testing and
reviewing alternatives to TRU power
sources. The end user for the field
trials is expected to be confirmed
by October.
www.liquidair.org.uk

News

New research
chair in Cryogenic
Energy Storage
Professor Yulong Ding has been
appointed to the Highview Power
Storage/Royal Academy of Engineering
Research Chair in Energy Storage. The
post a world-first in this emerging
specialism has been created by the
recently inaugurated University of
Birmingham Centre for Cryogenic
Energy Storage and will run for at least
five years.
The Royal Academy of Engineering and
Highview Power Storage, the UK-based
developer of large-scale long duration
Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES)
systems, have teamed up to create
and fund the new Chair to explore the
potential of this emerging technology,
which has the potential to convert
excess/off-peak electricity into multi
megawatts of stored energy.
Professor Ding said: My focus in
the first three years will be on novel
micro- and nano-structured composite
materials for thermal energy (cold and
heat) storage and high-performance
storage components and devices based
on the new materials. The focus of
the last two years of the appointment
will be on system integration and
optimisation. The eventual goal of my
work is to keep the UKs leading edge
in the area of cryogenic energy storage
and to facilitate industrial applications
of the technology.
To support Professor Yulong Ding in
his work as the new Chair of Cryogenic
Energy Storage Engineering, Highview
will relocate its 350kW/2.5MWh LAES
pilot plant to Birmingham.
www.liquidair.org.uk

Birmingham Centre
for Cryogenic Energy
Storage (BCCES)
hosts EPSRC
In June, BCCES hosted recipients of
energy storage capital grants recently
awarded by the EPSRC (Engineering
Physical Science Research Council).
The day enabled the UK teams to
share objectives and discuss new
collaborative activities. Visits were
made to view the construction of the
new BCCES facilities.
The collective teams are working
towards presenting at UKES2014,
an energy storage conference to
be held at Warwick University,
November 25-27, 2014.

Grant funding for

heat hybrid engine
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
Danny Alexander, announced in
April that a consortium including
the Dearman Engine Company,
Air Products, MIRA, Cenex, TRL,
The Manufacturing Technology
Centre and The Proving Factory
had been awarded nearly 2 million
of government funding (Technology
Strategy Board IDP10) to deliver a
waste heat recovery system for urban
commercial vehicles. The project will
combine a diesel engine with a liquid
air Dearman engine to form a heat
hybrid, which is projected to reduce
diesel consumption by 25%.
The consortium brings together
expertise in the Dearman system,
industrial gases, internal combustion
engines, vehicle systems, legislation,
and standards and manufacturing.
Testing is due to start in the middle
of next year.
Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the
TSB, said We want to ensure
that the UK is a global leader in
low-carbon transport technology
by bringing businesses together to
work on ground-breaking projects to
reduce emissions. These developments
will enable us to embed innovation
further into the UK automotive
sector, giving us a competitive edge
in this industry.

unding for liquid

air technologies
The Dearman Engine Company has
successfully completed an equity
fund-raising launched in early May,
with 4,500,000 now fully committed.
The company is now funded through to
field trials of its transport refrigeration
unit, to commence next year. The
investment was secured at a 50%
increase over the previous share price,
valuing the company at 15.2 million
on a fully-diluted basis.
Highiew Power Storage earlier this
month launched a crowdfunding bid
to raise 400,000 through equity
crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom.
Highview will be using the funds raised
through the crowdfunding campaign
to enter the first commercial stage of
its development cycle. The funding
round is led by a group of independent
angel investors brought to Highview
by Opus Corporate Finance, who have
committed nearly 200,000.

Webcast: Using a
CleanTech Leapfrog to
Achieve Food Security
Look out on liquidair.org.uk/events and
Twitter for further information of a
special 45-minute webcast with Dr Tim
Fox, hosted by GreenLeaders DC on
July 24th, 2014.

Find @Toby_Peters_
on Twitter for the
latest LAEN updates.
For more news
and media, visit
liquidair.org.uk/news

Former Ricardo Director Joins Dearman Engine

The Dearman Engine Company
strengthened its team as it prepares for its
liquid air engine to begin on-vehicle testing,
with the recruitment of Nick Owen to the
position of Chief Technology Officer. Nick
joined Dearman at the start of June.
Nick has worked at E4tech for the last two
years, a leading industry and government
consultancy, where he was responsible for
the commercial and technical activities in
the low-carbon vehicles sector. During this
period he has worked closely with Dearman
on a number of projects including a review

of markets and technology development

risks and has also provided support for
the development of the companys
engineering plans.
Prior to E4tech, Nick spent more than
20 years at Ricardo, including a number
of years as Project Director of Research
and Collaboration, responsible for the
planning, execution and exploitation of
Ricardo UKs R&D portfolio. Nick is
responsible for the planning and delivery
of Dearmans engineering research and
development activities.

Highlights
Could engines running on thin air be
the answer to the UKs air pollution
problem?
Business Green June 11, 2014
It sounds almost too good to be true: trucks
powered by the air we breathe, producing
no emissions at the tailpipe. But in fact, the
technology is real and could be coming to a
road near you soon.
A new report unveiled last week by the
Liquid Air Energy Network, the Centre for
Low Carbon Futures, and the University
of Birmingham, examines the potential
for polluting refrigerated trucks and other
commercial vehicles to literally run on
thin air.
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/2348186/
could-engines-running-on-thin-air-be-the-answer-tothe-uks-air-pollution-problem

London summit launches new liquid

air cold economy initiative
Renewable Energy Magazine July 2, 2014
In the UK and other developed countries,
the cold economy is rapidly emerging as
a radically new zero-emission approach to
the way cooling is provided in all its forms
including air conditioning, data centres,
superconducting technologies and the
cold chain of refrigerated vehicles and
warehouses essential for preserving food
from farm to fork. The global demand for
cooling is projected to increase by 340GW,
or three times the current power output of
Brazil, by 2030.
http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/article/
london-summit-launches-new-liquid-air-a-20140702

Nick Owen was appointed

Chief Technology Officer of
Dearman in early June.

Transport refrigeration using liquid

nitrogen proposed as way to slash
emissions and diesel costs
Rac July 3 2014
A report from a collaboration of academics
and industry proposes nitrogen for
cooling and motive power in transport
refrigeration as the first step in creating
low-emission commercial vehicle fleets
The Liquid Air Energy Network, a
collaboration of academics and industry
has released a report suggesting that
transport refrigeration can be in the
vanguard of a mass conversion of
commercial vehicles to run on liquid
nitrogen. The Liquid Air on the Highway
report contends that by using the cryogenic
system to provide the cooling and the
motive power, transport refrigeration units
are an ideal application, produce zero
carbon emissions, as well as significantly
reducing diesel.
http://www.racplus.com/news/transport-refrigerationusing-liquid-nitrogen-proposed-as-way-to-slashemissions-and-diesel-costs/8665102.article

Chilled Air Cheaper than Diesel for India

Food Transport
Bloomberg BusinessWeek July 7, 2014
India, where half the nations fruit and
vegetables spoil before getting to market,
could reduce food waste by refrigerating
vehicles with liquid air at a fraction of the
cost of using diesel engines, a report said.
The liquid air would help fill a gap
in supply of chilled transportation,
according to the study by the Londonbased Institution of Mechanical Engineers
released today in New Delhi.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-07-04/
chilled-air-cheaper-than-diesel-for-india-food-transport

The world needs

sustainable cold
The world needs cooling air conditioning, industrial
cooling, data cooling, medical cooling as well as a cold
chain of refrigerated food storage and transport. And the
demand for cooling is booming. In fact, global projected
growth to 2030 for cooling equates to three times the total
power output of Brazil. Yet cold is the Cinderella of the
environmental debate. Almost every country has energy
policies covering power, transport and heat, but cooling in
all its forms is still largely overlooked.
This cannot continue. Given the energy cost to provide
cooling on demand, if this need is satisfied using current
technologies, the climate and air quality impacts as well as
the cost will be substantial. We need to do cold better or
smarter, to achieve large reductions in cost, carbon and air
pollution. We need a radically new approach to the way we
provide, store and recycle cold. Whats required is nothing
less than a joined-up cold economy.
The key to harnessing intermittent renewables in grid and
transport applications is energy storage, so that wrong time
energy such as excess wind power produced at night (when
demand is low) can be kept until needed. Building on an
invention by Peter Dearman, an archetypal British garden
shed inventor, we have been exploring the development of
liquid nitrogen or liquid air as a new energy vector; but
one that stores wrong-time energy as both power and cold
giving two bangs for one buck. This is the unique attribute
of liquid air: it has about the same energy density as an
advanced battery in terms of stored power or mechanical
work, but also stores two thirds of its energy as cold on top,
making it an ideal form of energy storage wherever there is a
need for cooling.
At the same time, huge amounts of cold are wasted, which
could be put to good use. The cold required to turn natural
gas into compact LNG at -160C for transport by ship is
often discarded when the LNG is regasified at the import
terminal. Most terminals do make use of some of the cold,
but even at the most highly integrated site, at Osaka in
Japan, less than 50% of the available coolth is recycled.

The cold economy

The developing world urgently needs to build
a cold chain the system of refrigerated
warehouses and vehicles designed to
preserve food from field to fork. This will
curb shockingly high losses (up to 40%) of
harvested crops. But its also vital they avoid
the highly polluting diesel systems used in
the West, with their grossly disproportionate
emissions of fatal pollutants NOx and PM.
For further illustrations of the joined-up cold economy
and more information on how it would work,
visit liquidair.org.uk/clean-and-cool-summit

www.liquidair.org.uk

A recent report suggests that fewer than 30 sites globally

harness waste cold.
The Dearman engine is the new piece of the jigsaw. It allows
cold to be economically used as packets of energy thereby
creating a new demand but off site. Liquid air or liquid
nitrogen production plants could be integrated with LNG
import terminals to harness the waste cold given off during
regasification. By allowing cold and power to be moved in
time and place, liquid air serves as a carrier or vector and
opens up new demand for harnessing stranded cold of LNG
regasification.
As one example, the cold given off by the National Grid Isle
of Grain LNG terminal over the course of a year would be
enough to fuel Londons entire 7,600 strong bus fleet as
liquid air heat hybrids more than six times over. Chinas
LNG import terminals will soon be dumping or wasting
the same amount of cold as required to run the nations
entire projected fleet of refrigerated lorries. In fact, the
projected annual global trade of 500 million tonnes of LNG
in 2030 would give off enough waste cold to help produce 184
million tonnes of extremely cheap and low-carbon liquid air.
This could in theory turn supply the cooling demand of the
projected entire global refrigerated transport fleet!
When we consider the broader demand for power and cooling
in both transport and grid applications, we are therefore not
simply looking at a new engine, but rather the opportunity
to catalyse the thinking and development of a sustainable
cold infrastructure a joined-up cold economy. The IMechE
report started to show how liquid air, and the Dearman
engine, are uniquely placed to harness renewable energy
for both power and cooling for use on demand in whole
end-to-end cold chain applications, as well as how they can
be practically implemented in the context of countries at
different stages of economic development. A joined-up cold
economy, and the impacts it could bring, are without doubt
within our grasp. To unlock the full market value and social
impact, government now needs to engage and bring cold and
cooling into the energy debate.