Liquid air energy storage technology goes live

An industry-first application of liquid air energy storage (LAES) energy efficiency technology is now a live demonstrator project at Aggregate Industries’ Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire, UK.

This innovative technology stores energy in liquid air form to provide compressed air, allowing inefficient partially loaded, variable-demand compressors to be turned off, thus improving the total system efficiency by up to 25 per cent. The PRISMA (Peak Reduction by Integrated Storage and Management of Air) system installed on site at the Cauldon works is the first fully operational deployment in a live customer environment and is a potential “game changer” alternative to traditional compressed air technologies, according to its developer Innovatium.   

Early data shows that PRISMA can not only deliver up to 25 per cent energy savings but also hours of back-up energy storage. For Aggregate Industries, PRISMA is expected to make a meaningful contribution to the company’s ambitious 2030 Sustainability Strategy, a key element of which is to deliver a reduction in carbon emissions down to 500Kg CO2/t cement (from 2020 baseline), to contribute towards industry net zero targets. PRISMA is one of several pioneering energy efficiency technology projects at the site.   

The PRISMA system will bring together a latent energy cold storage tank, filled with a phase change material (PCM) to store thermal energy. Along with a number of off-the-shelf components, this forms a system that will work within Aggregate Industries’ existing compressed air network. The integration of such equipment in an industrial setting, for the provision of compressed air, has never been attempted before.  

Kirstin McCarthy, sustainability director at Aggregate Industries said: “We are very proud to be the first partner to install the PRISMA system in an operational environment. Aggregate Industries is committed to transitioning to net zero and supporting innovations like PRISMA is vital in helping us achieve that goal. We believe PRISMA can play a major role in addressing the ‘energy trilemma’ of managing energy efficiency, energy cost and energy security, and we're confident that its installation at Cauldon will further prove its decarbonisation credentials – a big step towards full commercialisation of the technology.”