The National Water and Energy Centre (NWEC) of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) organised a one-hour webinar by Prof. Sotirios Karellas of the National Technical University of Athens.
The webinar was titled "Harvesting waste heat from industry and heat from hybrid renewable energy sources towards tri-generation". Prof. Karellas explained the importance of waste heat recovery in relation to combating global warming challenges and that waste heat recovery is particularly beneficial for the industrial sector.
Prof. Karellas also mentioned that there are two options for using waste heat, as either heat or electricity. For generating electricity, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is often employed. He provided a brief introduction to ORC and in addition, mentioned the several challenges facing ORC.
He presented examples of several thermodynamic cycles developed as part of his research and their usefulness for tri-generation, that is generating electricity, heating, and cooling. These cycles have been practically demonstrated at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). The webinar was attended by several faculty members and students from the UAEU and others from the community.
Dr. Karellas is a professor with the School of Mechanical Engineering of the NTUA, Director of the Laboratory of Thermal Processes, and Visiting Professor at the Technische Universität München and the Universität Bayreuth Germany. He is a member of the Greek delegation to the Programme Committee "Secure Clean and Efficient Energy" under the Horizon 2020, acting as an Expert (2014 – 2019) and as a National Representative (2019-2021). He is an alternate National Representative of Greece to the Coal and Steel Committee (COSCO) (2014 – 2019).
He is a specialist in central and decentralised energy systems, Carbon Capture Storage and Utilisation, energy storage, Hydrogen energy, Zero Energy Buildings, co-, poly-generation, solar-thermal energy, biomass, Organic Rankine Cycle technology and heat pumps, and waste to energy. He has more than 150 relevant publications in scientific journals and conferences. He has supervised six Ph.Ds and is currently supervising seven Ph. D students at the NTUA working in carbon capture and utilisation, energy conversion systems for Electricity, Heating and Cooling.
The NWEC is a research centre at the United Arab Emirates University. It provides high-quality applied scientific research, environmental impact assessment studies and consultancy in the sustainability of water and energy resources. It also aims to evaluate and support information related to water and energy in the UAE in partnership with government institutions and national and local bodies through information, statistics, and scientific research to enhance the decision-making process and to achieve sustainability of water and energy resources.