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Crystal Lagoons to present sustainable cooling technology at World Future Energy Summit.

 

A new industrial application of Crystal Lagoons’ technology, developed by renowned Chilean innovator Fernando Fischmann, CEO and founder of this company, is capturing world attention and will be presented at the World Future Energy Summit, the world’s foremost annual meeting on future energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies, taking place in Abu Dhabi from January 16-19, 2012.

This revolutionary technology for cooling industrial and thermal power plants, eliminates marine pollution from cooling-dependent industries, something critical for the Arabian Gulf that today is under pressure from industrialization, and has put in risk its extensive coral reefs, pearl oysters and marine ecosystems. Crystal Lagoons technology achieves significant energy savings and a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions too, generating enormous environmental benefits for mining, energy and industrial companies.

Shortly after this unique industrial application was presented at APEC, Babson College, Power-Gen and in the biggest mining fair in Latin America, Exponor 2011, national and international business leaders from the energy sector are already interested in incorporating it. To date, Crystal Lagoons Corp has 19 projects in development in countries such as Peru, Finland, India, U.S. and Saudi Arabia, as well as in Chile.

“The enormous interest is explained by the great need to implement cooling systems which are both economically profitable and of high environmental impact. Today, our projects go beyond just power plants, since the cooling problem transcends to other industries such as thermo-solar plants, foundries and data centers,” explained Joaquin Konow, Development Manager of Crystal Lagoons Corp.

Electricity Generation

It is worth noting that in the UAE and the world, the majority of thermal generation processes use huge volumes of seawater for cooling, captured from the ocean and later returned at a considerably higher temperature.

The process has created a major environmental problem destroying marine life during the water suction process and causing severe disruption to the ecosystem when it returns hot water to the sea. The United States has now banned the process due to the enormous damage it causes to the environment, and many other countries are following suit.

In addition, during the process, valuable energy is dispersed into the environment, thus contributing to global warming, climate change and severely damaging the biosphere. Today, wasted energy in the world amounts to a full 80% of the electric energy actually consumed on the planet.

The sustainable cooling technology developed by Crystal Lagoons Corp solves this problem, allowing the creation of large crystalline lagoons which dissipate the heat through a closed cooling circuit for electricity generation plants. This process takes crystalline water of the highest quality from the sustainable crystalline lagoon to cool the industrial process.

The water is later returned to the lagoon that acts as a heat sink and in parallel as a reservoir of energy. In this way, cogeneration is allowed since the previously wasted energy is used for convenient purposes and it also makes possible to enter the Carbon Credits market.

This innovation enables thermoelectric plants to completely disconnect from the sea and other natural sources through a more efficient system than the traditional cooling towers, achieving lower installation costs and low consumption of make-up water and energy. This application also allows building or relocating thermoelectric power stations in locations further from the sea and close to demand centers, thereby increasing efficiency, lowering transmission costs and avoiding the enormous environmental damage produced by the use of other systems.

Of the total amount of energy used by a thermoelectric plant to produce electricity, approximately 65% is lost as it dissipates into the environment in the form of heat. Crystal Lagoons’ technology optimizes the energy leverage because it enables a large portion of this heat to be captured and given an alternative use.

"As this is a closed system with high quality water, the lagoon increases its temperature up to a steady state, creating a reserve of thermal energy which can then be used in a number of processes such as heating, residential and industrial hot water, thermal desalination, greenhouse heating, wood drying and industrial pre-heating, thus contributing to the economic development of the regions where power stations with this sustainable cooling system are established,” emphasized Konow.

This is a huge impact for the UAE where around 1000 power stations operate under this system, using more than 168 billion liters of water a day - more than five times the volume of water used for irrigation in Australia. Moreover, the environmental impact of diverse industries could be reduced and energy production doubled without the need for building more power stations.

In addition to the industrial use of hot water, the warm crystalline lagoons can be used for recreational purposes. In contrast with other systems currently in use, this technology allows the creation of tourist attractions and improves the landscape through year-round warm crystal-clear lagoons practically all over the world, adding great recreational and real estate value and bringing with it an unprecedented community benefit for the areas where the power stations and industries are installed.