An overview of commercialization and marketization of thermoelectric generators for low-temperature waste heat recovery

Kuan-Ting Lee; Da-Sheng Lee; Wei-Hsin Chen; Yu-Li Lin; Ding Luo; Young-Kwon Park; Argel Bandala

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107874

An overview of commercialization and marketization of thermoelectric generators for low-temperature waste heat recovery

iScience. 2023 Sep 9;26(10):107874. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107874. eCollection 2023 Oct 20.

Authors

Kuan-Ting Lee^{1

2}, Da-Sheng Lee³, Wei-Hsin Chen^{1

4

5}, Yu-Li Lin⁶, Ding Luo⁷, Young-Kwon Park⁸, Argel Bandala⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan.
³ Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-conditioning Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
⁴ Research Center for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, Taiwan.
⁶ ApexGreen Technology Co., Ltd., Tainan 745, Taiwan.
⁷ Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁸ School of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea.
⁹ Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, De La Salle University, Manila 0922, The Philippines.

Abstract

According to statistics, low-temperature waste heat below 300°C accounts for more than 89% of industrial waste heat. If the waste heat is not recycled, a large amount of low-temperature waste heat will be released into the atmosphere, thereby exacerbating global warming and posing a significant threat to human survival. Although the power generation efficiency of solid-state thermoelectric generation technology is lower than the organic Rankine cycle, it only requires a smaller construction area, which increases its market acceptance, applicability, and penetration. Especially in the pursuit of net-zero emissions by global companies, the importance of low-temperature waste heat recovery and power generation is even more prominent. The current thermoelectric conversion efficiency of commercial thermoelectric chips is about 5%. Power generation cost, thermoelectric conversion efficiency, and energy use efficiency are highly correlated with the commercialization of solid-state thermoelectric technology. This research shares five practical waste heat power generation cases commercialized by recycling three heat sources. It also points out the three significant challenges facing the commercialization of power generation from low-temperature waste heat recovery. This study analyzes 2,365 TEG patents submitted by 28 companies worldwide to determine the basic technology for realizing waste heat recovery through TEG and explore the potential commercialization of related waste heat recovery products. The future challenge for the large-scale commercialization of solid-state thermoelectric technology is not technological development but financial incentives related to changes in international energy prices and subsidies that promote zero carbon emissions.

Keywords: Economics; Materials science; Physics.

Publication types

Review