The University of Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage (BCES) & Energy Innovation Centre (BEIC) are cross-campus initiatives with thermal energy storage research hub at the School of Chemical Engineering. Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage (BCES) – Our on-campus laboratories and pilot facilities in The University of Birmingham Edgbaston Campus (operational since 2014)

The BCES (facilities already available) has ~1000 m2 of research labs and offices well-equipped for both fundamental and applied energy storage research, as well as a 600m2-pilot-plant for cryogenic (liquid air-based) energy storage integrated with heat and cold storage units (350kW/2.5MWh). Research areas include: thermal (heat and cold) energy storage covering -196 ° C ~ + 1500 ° C; manufacturing technologies and pilot-scale production lines for composite phase change materials (~1 ton/day scale) and composite thermochemical materials (~ 100kg scale); cryogenic air energy storage and their integration; direct wind-to-heat conversion & storage; thermochemical storage (sorption based low to medium temperature storage, reversible reaction-based medium to high-temperature storage, and integrated thermal-chemical and electrochemical conversion

Our unique services and facilities include the following:

• The 350kW/2.5MWh pilot plant for liquid air energy storage integrated with heat and cold storage;

• Lab and pilot-scale facilities for thermal energy storage materials and modules fabrication using an extrusion-based facility for low to medium temperature composite phase change materials (up to 0.5 ton/day) and composite thermochemical material (up to 50kg/day) fabrication;

• Lab and pilot-scale facilities for thermal energy storage materials and modules fabrication using grinding-mixing-granulation-tabletting-drying based facility for medium to high-temperature composite phase change materials (up to 1 ton/day) and composite thermochemical material (up to 100kg/day) fabrication;

• Materials characterization facilities: 4 differential scanning calorimeters (DSC, -170 to +1800 ° C); 4 thermal conductivity meters (-170 to +1800 ° C); 3 particle sizers (nm-to-cm range); a Rheometer (-150 to +700°); 2 thermal cycling machines (-170 to +3000 ° C); 2 mechanical testers (~700 ° C); two contact angle equipment (~1000 ° C); an X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD); an X-Ray Tomography (nano-CT); a Raman microscope; an Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM); a FT-IR; an IR Microscope; 2 TGA (-150 ° C to +1700 ° C); a dilatometer