Converting waste heat into electricity: Thanks to a new process, this is now economically viable not only in large power plants, but also in low-temperature systems and in vehicles. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have not only developed this climate-friendly technology but also brought it to market through their own company. TUM has now honored them with the Presidential Entrepreneurship Award.
Every day, huge amounts of energy are lost unused in industry and transportation. Waste heat is generated everywhere. To recycle this heat, a team at TUM has developed a new technology. The device can be connected to generate electricity in factories or biogas plants, in trucks and ships, as well as in construction machinery. It works like a steam power plant, except that it uses an organic fluid instead of water.
This principle, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is not new in itself, but is already used in large power plants. However, until now, there has been a lack of a technology that efficiently utilizes small amounts of low-temperature waste heat, that can also be operated with minimal effort, and that is affordable for a large number of users.
Investors from Silicon Valley
Since 2004, Richard Aumann, Dr. Andreas Sichert, and Dr. Andreas Schuster at the Chair of Energy Systems have solved several problems of current power plant technology – resulting in 20 different patents. In 2008, they founded Orcan EnergyThey launched their first product in 2013. Since then, they have not only secured a major Silicon Valley venture capitalist and a major energy supplier as a strategic partner, but their technology is already being used in several European countries.
The jury of the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award was impressed by the team's deliberate commitment to taking a lot of time to develop the product based on its research results before entering the market.
“That’s why the company can now offer a product with a high level of quality that taps into a previously untapped CO2-neutral energy source – with immense potential for society,”
said Prof. Thomas Hofmann, TUM Vice President for Research and Innovation, in his laudation at yesterday’s TUM Entrepreneurship Day.
800 companies spun off
TUM annually presents the Presidential Entrepreneurship Award to an outstanding spinoff whose business idea is significantly based on research findings. Further criteria include high growth potential and initial financing success. The prize is endowed with €10,000, donated by the Association of Friends of TUM. The award is intended to motivate other students and researchers to start a company.
TUM supports together with UnternehmerTUM, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, supports startups through all phases with consulting, training, and infrastructure. According to the latest "Startup Radar" published by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany), no other major university supports startups as well. Since 1990, more than 800 companies have emerged from TUM.
