About HEAT4ENERGY

HEAT4ENERGY is a 4-year EU-Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network project aiming to train a new generation of enablers for the European Energy Transition. They will acquire these skills in practice by addressing the challenge of making the first realistic and energy efficient thermomagnetic devices for converting low grade waste heat (<100°C) to electricity. They will also learn how to upscale these and advance the technology to a viable market level. They will obtain the interdisciplinary competence required to bring this green technology to a mature level, and career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors delivering the European Green Deal.

In order to achieve the main goal, the HEAT4ENERGY project will achieve the following 6 objectives:

Objective 1: Train a new generation of interdisciplinary groups of EU based experts in the development of thermomagnetic technology, in the science and technology for energy transitions and climate actions and the soft and transferable skills needed by future leaders (WP5).

Objective 2: Develop highly efficient and economic thermomagnetic materials to convert low grade heat into electrical energy(WP4). We will address different sizes of thermomagnetic devices (WP2), from μm to m. This research will be guided by computational materials design (WP3) and combinatorial thin film studies (WP4).

Objective 3: Characterize the properties of the thermomagnetic materials to understand and optimize their efficiency in converting low grade heat energy into electrical energy. Here, we will use advanced macroscopic and microscopic tools based on X-rays, neutrons, magnetometry, thermal and mechanical properties analysis(WP4).

Objective 4: Design and implement new thermodynamic and engineering features for high energy efficiency thermomagnetic devices. Here we will focus on hybrid permanent electro-magnetic field generation, efficient heat transfer and 3D shaping technologies (WP2).

Objective 5: Study and implement the upscaling of technological solutions including the design and simulation of efficient machines for various energy applications (WP2).

Objective 6: Integrate the role of industrial partners in each step of research and development to realize realistic prototype devices and promote public awareness for thermomagnetic devices (WP1+6). In the proposal writing phase and during the project we will actively engage with key stakeholders to maximise their engagement and potential impact.

The work programme based on these objectives will lead to three demonstrators for energy conversion on three different size and power scales.