Renewables Revolution: The up-and-coming energy sources supporting the energy transition

When you think of a future powered by renewable energy, most typically think of two options: wind or solar. Due to declining costs in the last decade of photovoltaic and wind electricity, they have become competitive with fossil fuel electricity, strengthening their position as leaders in renewable energy. However, solar and wind are unlikely to be sufficient sources by themselves.

While wind and solar can generate large quantities of power, system complexities like storage, transformation and demand management are challenges which must still be addressed.  Accepting nuclear is typically part of the power mix, other complementary renewable sources like biofuels and biomass are becoming well established. Meanwhile others are positioned for mass commercialization if processing challenges can be solved, upscaled and the infrastructure is installed to support it.

PALL helps energy providers meet their most challenging filtration and separation challenges. For example, In Hydrogen, Pall particulate and phase separation technologies are used to reach the extreme levels of purity required for hydrogen (created via electrolysis) to be used as a viable fuel source.

Processing organic and waste materials to extract valuable bio-fuels and gases (waste-to-energy) that can be used to produce heat and electricity, requires multiple stages of fluid and gas filtration to remove contamination and moisture.

As all forms of transportation looks to lithium-ion batteries as an alternative clean power source to the traditional combustion engine, filtration will play a critical role in enabling manufacturers to build power cells that deliver the power, range and reliability needed to achieve and sustain the transition to electric vehicles.  Additionally, industrial scale storage batteries used to reduce the imbalance between energy demand and green energy production, are manufactured at extreme levels of cleanliness, achieved by filtration at multiple stages of the battery value chain.

In the circular economy of plastics recycling, filters are applied to the most challenging applications to remove waste, be it through physical or chemical processing such as pyrolysis (high temperature incineration performed without oxygen), to extract the hydrocarbon content to create an alternative source of fuel. Filtration is an essential step as it affects the final quality and ultimately, the value of the recycled product.

The drive to Energy Transition also includes how users of fossil fuels limit their impact on the atmosphere through carbon capture.  Each capture and utilization approach has unique filtration and separation needs that can be addressed using Pall technologies

To find out more about how Pall technologies is helping meet the Energy Transition challenge, visit Energy Transitions Solutions (pall.com) or contact us.