Journal Pre-proof

Comprehensive review in waste heat recovery in

different thermal energy-consuming processes using
thermoelectric generators for electrical power
generation

Alfred Oloo Ochieng, Tamer F. Megahed, Shinichi

Ookawara, Hamdy Hassan

PII: S0957-5820(22)00285-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.03.070
Reference: PSEP3477

To appear in: Process Safety and Environmental Protection

Received date: 31 January 2022
Revised date: 20 March 2022
Accepted date: 22 March 2022
Please cite this article as: Alfred Oloo Ochieng, Tamer F. Megahed, Shinichi
Ookawara and Hamdy Hassan, Comprehensive review in waste heat recovery in
different thermal energy-consuming processes using thermoelectric generators for
electrical power generation, Process Safety and Environmental Protection,
(2022) doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.03.070
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Comprehensive review in waste heat recovery in different thermal energy-consuming
processes using thermoelectric generators for electrical power generation
Alfred Oloo Ochieng1, Tamer F. Megahed2,3, Shinichi Ookawara4, Hamdy Hassan1,5*
1
Energy resources Engineering, Egypt Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST),
New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt
2
Electrical Power Engineering, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST),
New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria 21934, Egypt

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3
Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University,
El-Mansoura 35516, Egypt
4
Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

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5
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
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*Corresponding author: Hamdy Hassan
[email protected]
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Abstract
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This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent studies in electrical power generation from
various thermal-consuming processes. In particular, the paper concentrates on TEG technology
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in recovering waste heat from industrial applications such as chimneys and automotive engines.
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Studies conclude that TEGs have a lower conversion efficiency (ranging between 5% and 10%),
leading to low power output. Also, they state that most of the available TEGs have low operating
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temperatures limiting their commercial use. Therefore, an effort is taken to understand the key
parameters that influence the performance of a thermoelectric generator. It is shown that a large
temperature difference across the module, high heat dissipation from the cold side of the TEG
and using thermoelectric materials with a high figure of merit generally improve the performance
of the thermoelectric generator system. TEG module's cold-side temperature has a large effect on
the power output than the hot-side temperature. Several geometric optimization methods, such as
flaps and heat spreaders under natural convection resulted in a 129% and 42% increase in TEG
power output, respectively. The survey also shows that forced cooling using side-mounted fans

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produces 58.6% more power compared to the top-mounted fan on the heat sink. However,
optimization in fan selection is required to ensure that the power produced by forced cooling is
sufficient to run the fans and output higher than the natural convection cooling case. Several
studies also show that most of the commercially available TEG modules made from Bismuth
telluride suffer from low operating temperature (maximum of 2600C) and have figure of merit of
1.2 maximum and low conversion efficiency (up to 5%). Recommendations are made to further
research alternatives like SiGe alloys, clathrates, skutterudites, and complementary metal-oxide
semiconductors with better temperature ranges and figures of merit.

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Keywords: Thermoelectric generator; Waste heat recovery; Automobiles; Industrial application;
Working principle

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Nomenclature

Net electrical power output

e- Abbreviations
̇
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Heat transfer rate AR Aspect ratio
Electrical internal resistance ATEG Automotive thermoelectric generator
Electrical load resistance CFD Computational fluid dynamics
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Hot-side temperature CHP Combined heat and power

CPU Central processing unit
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Cold-side temperature
Electrical current GMST Global mean surface temperature
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Number of thermoelectric couples HEX Heat exchanger

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Temperature HP Heat pipe

Electrical voltage PCM Phase change material
Average figure of merit PV Photovoltaic
Figure of merit TE Thermoelectric elements
Efficiency of thermoelectric TEC Thermoelectric cooler
generator
Greek symbols TEG Thermoelectric generator
Seebeck coefficient TEM Thermoelectric module

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 Peltier coefficient WHR Waste heat recovery
Electrical resistivity
Thomson’s coefficient
1. Introduction

The world faces three significant challenges: increasing population, constant surge in energy
demand, and global pollution from various energy resources leading to stricter emissions control
(Rahman and Alam, 2021; Yadav, 2018). The conventional power plants operating on working
fluids must first transform the thermal energy into an intermediate form (steam) before finally

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converting it into output electrical power. With the many moving parts and the limitations of
thermodynamic laws, such systems are known for low thermal efficiency (Galen et al., 2007).

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Thus large amounts of waste heat through the flue (exhaust) gases are released into the
environment, causing pollution (Energy Information Administration, 2021). Renewable energy
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from solar panels, geothermal power plants, windmills, and others, is still plagued by its
unreliability and high costs (Halkos and Gkampoura, 2020). The apparent option is, thus, to
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develop technologies that ensure highly efficient production and consumption of renewable or
non-renewable available energy resources (Karana and Sahoo, 2020).
In most industrial processes such as food processing, steel and iron production, and oil and gas
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refining, about half of the initial thermal energy goes to low-grade waste exhaust heat, dumped
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into the environment. The waste heat is in the form of hot flue gases, vapor streams, exhaust
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cooling water, and heat from convective and radiating hot surfaces (Haddad et al., 2014). Waste
heat recovery (WHR) systems are promising band of technologies that can efficiently utilize this
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energy lost to the environment (Jouhara et al., 2018) by transforming it into usable thermal,
electrical or mechanical power (Oliveira et al., 2020) as shown in Figure 1 below. Today,
conventional waste heat recovery technologies operate on the Kalina cycle, organic Rankine
cycle, or heat pumps (Soltani et al., 2020),(Wu et al., 2016). These systems, however, are bulky,
require significant financial investments, operate on working fluid, and have several moving
parts (Hu et al., 2022). A detailed review of these technologies' limitations, merits, and
application areas has been done (Hewawasam et al., 2020; H. Jouhara et al., 2017)
Direct energy conversion devices including thermoelectric, piezoelectric, thermionic, and
thermo-photovoltaic generators present an alternative to the conventional WHR systems. They
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have no rotating elements, compact, silent in operation, need no maintenance for a long time, and
are environmentally safe (Terasaki, 2005). Thermoelectric generators (TEG) are waste heat
recovery devices used to directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy when a
temperature gradient is passed through it without needing an intermediate form such as steam in
conventional waste heat recovery systems (Khalil et al., 2021).

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Figure 1: Waste heat sources and their potential application (US Department of Energy, 2008)
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In construction, the thermoelectric generator as indicated in Figure 2a is made of thermoelectric

module sandwiched between two heat exchangers for receiving and dissipating heat (Luo et al.,
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2021b). The thermoelectric module is an assembly of thermocouples (p and n-type

thermoelements) that are electrically connected (using conductive tabs) in series and thermally
connected (using ceramic plates) in parallel (Hsiao et al., 2010). The generation of the electrical
power from the thermal energy is based on the Seebeck effect (Orr and Akbarzadeh, 2017).
TEGs have found applications in space shuttles (Champier, 2017), in an automotive engine
(Magnetto and Vidiella, 2012), in solar TEG technology such as solar concentrators and
photovoltaics (Abo-Elfadl et al., 2020; Lertsatitthanakorn et al., 2008; Soliman and Hassan,

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2018) in micro-generation from body heat (Samson et al., 2012), and in combined heat and
power (CHP) systems (Zarifi and Mirhosseini Moghaddam, 2020).
Figure 2b is an electrical circuit of a single thermoelectric module made from material whose
Seebeck coefficient is According to the Seebeck effect, the output electrical potential from
one module is proportional to the number of thermocouples making up the thermoelectric
module (TEM) and the across temperature difference, hence the output voltage is shown in
equation 1 below.

(1)

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Thermoelectric generators have low conversion efficiency (Eldesoukey and Hassan, 2019)
ranging from 5% to 10% (Rowe and Raton London New York, 2018). One TEM produces an
output voltage in the order of millivolts. Therefore, to increase the overall output potential of the

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TEG assembly, the modules are connected electrically in series (Montecucco et al., 2014). This
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serial connection also raises the widespread internal resistance by a factor which limits the
output voltage (Wang et al., 2013). The net output power produced by one TEG, considering the
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internal resistance is thus given by equation Error! Reference source not found..

(2)
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Figure 2: (a) A schematic representation of a TEG; (b) Corresponding electrical circuit of a

thermoelectric module (TEM)(Liang et al., 2011)
It has been shown that by properly selecting suitable TEGs for a particular use, practical
orientation and assembly with respect to the waste heat source and efficient design of the heat
transfer process, the thermal efficiency of the device can be improved (Zheng et al., 2020).

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Based on the TEG principle and its advantages for waste heat recovery stated previously, this
paper seeks to present a critical review of the current research and some of the methods that have
been used so far to improve waste heat recovery from major waste heat producers such as
automobiles and industrial applications as chimneys. Also, it presents the impact of different
parameters (such as TEG orientation with respect to the heat source, design of heat dissipation,
using of different cooling media such as air, water, etc., using forced versus natural cooling
temperature difference, heat extraction from the sink, and TEG distribution on the heat source
surface) on the TEGs performance and how they have been improved until now. Also, the

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possible areas of research that can be implemented to further improve the TEG performance

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based on these factors are presented. Finally, the paper makes recommendations on the identified
gaps of waste heat recovery by TEGs.

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2. Principles of Thermoelectricity
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Thermoelectricity involves the interaction of heat and electricity in a conductor material due to
the flow of thermally excited electrons. The thermoelectric effect is the direct generation of
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electrical potential across a conductor from a temperature gradient passed through it via a
thermocouple (Rowe and Raton London New York, 2018). The effect has been applied in
measuring and controlling temperature, generating electricity, and changing objects' temperature
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(heat or cool) (Terasaki, 2016). The Seebeck, Peltier, and Thompson effects are the predominant
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phenomena primarily using the principles of thermoelectricity (Hewawasam et al., 2020).

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2.1.Seebeck effect

The Seebeck effect is a thermoelectric phenomenon that generates a voltage difference across
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two dissimilar materials (conductors or semiconductors) connected to form junctions and whose
junctions are maintained at different temperatures, creating a temperature gradient (Mahan,
2005). By applying heat on one junction, electron charge carriers flow in the direction of
temperature-drop (from hot to cold side) due to kinetic agitation, generating electrical potential.
A direct current is generated if the pair of semiconductors are connected through an electric
circuit (Huang et al., 2016). This is the basis for which thermocouples operate. A schematic for
the thermocouple is shown in Figure 3 below, with the reference junction being maintained at a
cold temperature while the other junction is heated from the heat source.

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Figure 3: Schematic of a thermoelectric module(Wijewardane, 2012)

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According to Seebeck, the electrical potential difference induced in a conductor material is
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proportional to the applied temperature gradient passing across the conductor's surfaces
(equation 1) (Rowe and Raton London New York, 2018). The principle is mainly used to
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generate electrical power from waste heat using TEGs. Equation (3) shows that the amount of
electricity generated (hence the conversion efficiency) from a simple TEG is dependent on the
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temperature difference on either side of the device, and the material's intrinsic thermoelectric
properties such as electrical and thermal conductivities, and the Seebeck coefficient
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(Nandihalli et al., 2020). To generate more electricity from a given TEG, it is required that the
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two surfaces be maintained at high and cold temperatures; the material should have a low
electrical resistivity to increase charge carriers and lower Joule heating, as well as a low thermal
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conductivity to retain more heat (Nolas et al., 2013).

(3)
2.2.Peltier effect

According to Peltier, when a junction of two dissimilar conductors allows current to flow
through, there is a corresponding generation or absorption of heat at the junctions. The direction
of current flow and the material combination determines whether heat is liberated or removed.
This is a reversible process, unlike irreversible Joule heating (Terasaki, 2016). The Peltier effect
is thus a reverse of the Seebeck effect. Through this effect, thermoelectric cooling (TEC) devices
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or electronic refrigerators have been developed for use in wine cellars, central processing unit
(CPU) coolers, and infrared detectors (Fairuz Remeli et al., 2020; Lin et al., 2019; Ma and Yu,
2014). The amount of heat evolved or absorbed from the thermoelectric junction in a TEC is
given by equation (4). The Peltier coefficient is dependent on the direction of the heat flow
between the junctions, the material pair used, and the junction temperature. Hence, it can be
interchangeably used to produce heat or electrical power (Bilotti et al., 2017).
̇ (4)
Figure 4 gives a schematic of both Peltier and Seebeck's effects in action. For the Seebeck

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circuit, the heat source (hot side) and heat sink (cold side) acts as the system's input potentials

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while generating electrical power as the output. The Peltier system finds application in the air
conditioning of automobile systems, and it is considered parasitic and unwanted in TEGs due to

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current flow fluctuations. On the other hand, the Peltier systems show that an external electrical
power input is required with reversible polarity to either produce a heating load or a cooling load
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Patidar, 2018)
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Figure 4: Cooling/Heating output and electrical power output(Patidar, 2018)

2.3.Thompson effect

The Thomson effect provides the linkage between Seebeck and Peltier effects. This is performed
by describing the reversible evolution of heat or the absorption thereof for a homogenous single
conductor or semiconductor material in the presence of thermal and electric current flow (Zhang

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et al., 2019). Thus, the Thomson effect has been found to influence both thermoelectric
generation (Lamba and Kaushik, 2017) and thermoelectric cooling (Lam et al., 2018; Sun et al.,
2020), following the Seebeck and Peltier effects, respectively. The amount of Thomson's heat
generated or removed from a thermoelectric junction is given by equation (5) (Manikandan and
Kaushik, 2016). Thomson's coefficient is the only thermoelectric coefficient that can be
directly measured for various materials used in the TEG. This is similar to the irreversible Joule
heating in highly resistive conductors (Aminuddin and Zubair, 2017).
̇ (5)

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Feng et al. (Manikandan and Kaushik, 2016) found out that the maximum power output or

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efficiency of a double-stage thermoelectric converter was diversely affected by the Thomson
effect. Hence, it is used to improve the performance by minimizing electrical losses due to

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thermal resistance at the junctions or limiting the performance of the TEC driven by a TEG.

3. Design of Thermoelectric generators

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TEGs are classified based on the orientation of the thermoelectric elements (TEs) on the
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substrate and the direction of the heat flow. These include laterally arranged TEs with lateral heat
flow, vertical TEs with vertical heat flow, and mixed type (vertical heat flow with lateral
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arrangement of the TEs) (Glatz et al., 2009). A typical application of the lateral-lateral
arrangement (Figure 5a) is in thin film deposition. It allows for the design of thin and long
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elements on the substrate while still generating high output power (due to the increased thermal
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resistance associated with the length). An example of such thin-film TEG technology was
investigated by Qing et al., (2018) in the design of flexible TEG for harvesting body heat. The
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vertical-vertical design model has the temperature gradient passed along the lengths of the TEs,
thus ensuring high integration density of the elements within the substrate (Figure 5b). The
design is mainly used for Peltier-based thermoelectric coolers used in refrigeration processes.
Besides, the vertical-vertical design is the most common commercial TEG with resultant high
voltage (Aravind et al., 2018). The mixed design (vertical heat flow with lateral TEs). The design
has been proposed by Yan et al., (2019) in which MEMS-based thermoelectric generator is used
to harvest solar heat for powering temperature and flow sensors in outdoor pipes.

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Figure 5: (a) Lateral-lateral TEG, (b) Vertical-vertical TEG models(Lateral and Bulk, 2012).

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2.5 Factors affecting the TEG performance

Classical TEGs will have limited application for the future due to their relatively low conversion
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efficiency (generally between 5 – 10%)(Rowe and Raton, 2018). This is due to several factors,
including the intrinsic properties of the materials used to make the thermoelectric elements, the
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applied temperature gradient between the two surfaces, the geometric configuration of the TEG
and heat sink to the source of waste heat, as well as the effects of convection to heat flow (Zhang
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et al., 2019).
Innovative efforts have been employed to improve the performance of TEGs by considering
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various affecting factors, including temperature difference between the hot- and cold-ends,
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geometry configurations of the TEGs (length, cross-section area, footprint)(Rezania et al.,

2014),(Sahin and Yilbas, 2013), load resistance(Lesage et al., 2013), contact resistance (Negash,
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2017), convection (Montecucco et al., 2012) fluctuation of the heat source (Chen et al., 2017)
and so on. In particular, Razania et al. ( 2014) found that due to the low electrical resistance and
higher thermal conductivity of the n-type thermoelectric materials, the efficiency and power
recovered were maximum. The ratio between the n-type and p-type thermoelectric elements was
less than one.
2.6 Figure of merit and its relevance on TEG materials

The limited application of TEGs among the scientific community today is due to their low
conversion efficiency compared to conventional energy sources. This is primarily because of the
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use of ineffective thermoelectric materials. A good thermoelectric material should have lower
electrical resistance with increasing temperature (Joule heating effect) to allow for the higher
electrical potential to be produced, a high Seebeck effect coefficient for maximum thermal-to-
electrical conversion, and good thermal retention (low thermal conductivity) to allow for a large
temperature gradient (Jouhara et al., 2021). Commercially available TEs are made of Bismuth
Telluride (Bi2Te3) material (Mamur et al., 2018), whose conversion efficiency is
less than 5% with a thermo-electric figure of merit (ZT), in equation (1), of 1.35 and 0.9 for the
p-type and n-type materials, respectively. The lower ZT value of the n-type limits the material's

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conversion efficiency to a greater degree, i.e., about 5%, due to the performance constraints of

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the available materials (Meng et al., 2017).

(1)

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This figure of merit is dependent on the Seebeck effect the electrical resistivity
thermal conductivity
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nd the absolute temperature . The efficiency of the
thermoelectric generator is thus defined by the relation given in equation (2), in which the hot
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and cold surface temperatures are characterized by and while the is the average
figure of merit for each thermos-element defined as shown in equation (1) above.
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√
( ) (2)
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√
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Other than the efforts meant to improve the value of figure-of-merit for various thermoelectric
materials, research efforts focused on increasing the range of operating temperature and
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developing cheaper materials (Champier, 2017). Figure 6 shows the theoretical efficiency of the
TEGs for various values of ZT. At a theoretical ZT value of 3.0, the TEG efficiency (approx.
33%) is likely similar to that of the conventional power plants; however, this value is pretty low
when actual experimentations are done. This is because of the temperature dependence of the ZT
and other thermo-electric properties (Rull-Bravo et al., 2015). Hence, the most suitable
thermoelectric materials have ZT ranging between 0.8 to 1.2 (Figure ).
Also, the materials are classified by their ZT values depending on the optimum operating
temperatures for maximum efficiency (see Figure 7), i.e., low-temperature range materials (at

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temperatures less than 2500C), like Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3, the mid-temperature range materials
(between 250 – 6500C) such as PbTe and TAGS-85, and finally the high-temperature range
materials (above 6500C) including SiGe alloys (Aswal et al., 2016; Funahashi et al., 2015).
These are conventional TE materials and are characteristically bulk semiconductor alloys. New
materials have high thermal retention, high thermal-to-electrical conversion capacity, improved
thermal stability at higher temperatures, and good mechanical strength. These include the
clathrates and skutterudites (Iversen et al., 2000). These have accomplished a ZT value between
1 and 1.5 as per the experimental studies (Shuai et al., 2017).

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Tsai et al. ( 2011) studied organic materials such as conductive polymers for thermoelectric

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applications. Besides their excellent thermal storage capacity, lightweight, and compactness,
conductive polymers suffer one major setback: low electrical conductivity. This limits them for

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use as thermoelectric materials. However, there is ongoing research to modify their molecular
structures to improve their potential for use (Yue and Xu, 2012).
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Figure 6: Theoretical maximum efficiency of TEG as a function of temperature(Chen et al.,

2012)

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Figure 7: Temperature dependence of ZT of thermoelectric n- and p-type materials(Aswal et al.,
2016)
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The figure of merit values of the TEG can be improved by modifying the material's band
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structure through the degeneration of multiple valleys (Pei et al., 2012, 2011), filtering of
electron energy barrier (Levin et al., 2012), highly mismatched isoelectronic doping (Lee et al.,
2010), and the modulation doping methods (Yu et al., 2012). The specific figure of merit values
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for various thermoelectric materials and their respective operating temperatures are listed in
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Error! Reference source not found. below.

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Table 1: Thermoelectric Properties of several Semiconductors (Qu et al., 2016; Zhou et al.,
2017)
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Ke
Semiconductors  K
Temp (K) m)-1 (W/mK) ZT
Related to Ref (V/K) (W/mK)

Bi2Te3-p-type 300 230 500 0.6 2.0 0.5

BiSbTe-p-type 400 220 700 0.6 1.0 1.4
Bi2Te2.7Se0.3-n-type 400 210 700 0.6 1.2 1.0
PbTe-SrTe-p-type 900 270 300 0.4 1.1 2.2
Si70Ge-n-ype 1000 350 320 0.5 4.0 0.8

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 Si80Ge20- n-ype 1200 250 400 0.5 2.8 1.3
CpSb3- n-ype 800 240 800 0.5 4.0 0.6
Yb-CoSb3- n-ype 800 200 1600 2.0 3.2 1.3
Yb14MnSb11- p-ype 1200 190 200 0.3 0.2 1.1
La3Te4- n-ype 1200 280 80 0.3 0.7 1.1

It is also important to note that the commercially available thermoelectric materials such as
Bi2Te3 are limited to operating up to maximum hot-side temperature of 2600C for continuous use

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and 3400C for periodic use (Raman et al., 2014). At temperatures higher than their optimal

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operating temperatures, the atoms making up the thermoelements disintegrate leading to failure.
Metal oxides have thus become a promising alternative due to their stability at high temperatures

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and high figure of merit. Key oxides that have gained research effort are zinc oxide (ZnO),
CaMnO3, NaxCoO2, and SrTiO3 (Ji, 2018). e-
Some of the properties of thermoelectric materials are summarized in table 2. The table presents
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both the mechanical and physical properties of each element with a corresponding ZT value.
Table 2: Summary of key mechanical properties of some thermoelectric elements

Material Type (p or Maximum ZT Poisson’s Elastic Tensile

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n) value ratio modulus (GPa) strength

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GeTe p 0.8 0.27 77 168

GeTe+10%Ag P 0.5 0.29 65 216
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GeTe+10%Cu P 0.7 0.26 - 239

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Bi2Te3 N 0.43 - 74 62
Mg2Si N 0.8 - 34 74
CeFe3RuSb3 P 0.56 0.22-0.29 115 657
Ba8Al15Si31 N 0.4 0.25 109.7 -

3 Application of TEG in Waste Heat Recovery

Scientists and environmentalists estimate that by 2050 the global mean surface temperature
(GMST) should be maintained below 1.50C(Hoegh-Guldberg O., Jacob D., Taylor M., Bindi M.,

14
Brown S., Camilloni I., Diedhiou A., Djalante R. et al. (2018). With high confidence, it has also
been shown that human-induced thermal pollution from industrial and commercial sectors is one
of the leading causes of frequent marine heatwaves and prolonged droughts along the
Mediterranean regions (Anthony, 2016). Recovering heat from the exhaust streams from the
industries, transport sector, and other heat-producing sectors can be a possible way to mitigate
this global threat by reducing the temperature and improving the quality of the exhaust stream
dumped into the environment, and lowering the dependence on non-renewable energy
sources(Wheatcroft et al., 2020).

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Thermoelectric generators have been widely used in recovering heat from automobile engines

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(Orr et al., 2017), industrial waste heat (Aranguren et al., 2014; Kaibe et al., 2012; Luo et al.,
2015), aviation jet engine nozzles (Ziolkowski et al., 2018), space ships (Liu et al., 2017),

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photovoltaic systems (Bjørk and Nielsen, 2015) (Soliman and Hassan, 2019) as well as in district
cooling and heating systems. TEGs are also used in electronic devices such as computer CPUs
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(Pranita et al., 2015), miniature self-powered wireless platforms, and health monitoring systems
(Thielen et al., 2017). There are several scientific research works done on the suitability of using
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TEGs in waste heat recovery in the sectors mentioned above. The proceeding section gives a
comprehensive review of these studies to identify the possible research gaps that need further
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research.
3.1 Application of TEG in waste heat recovery in automobile engines
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The present research shows that automobiles are responsible for approximately 16.4% of the
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global CO2 emissions (Archer et al., 2018; Arena et al., 2014; Ziolkowski, 2017). With the high
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cost of fossil fuel and the enforcement of stricter emission controls, most automobile
manufacturers such as Honda, BMW, and Ford have emphasized research to improve the
efficiency of internal combustion (IC) engines. Conventional engines utilize about 25% of the
fuel, while 40% is lost to the environment through an exhaust tailpipe and radiator (Luo et al.,
2020). Tian et al.(Tian et al., 2012) found out that there can be a 10% reduction in the fuel
consumed from an IC engine if only 6% of the total exhaust heat could be recovered and
converted into electricity. Also, the overall thermal efficiency of the engine could be increased
by recovering a fraction of this waste heat (temperatures between 4000C and 8000C) using
thermoelectric generators attached to the exhaust system (Lan et al., 2018). The recovered heat
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can power the air conditioning(Said and Hassan, 2021), navigation, and electronic braking
systems.
Most diesel-fueled engines have adopted exhaust gas recirculation technologies to reduce the
amount of NOx released into the atmosphere. Such include turbo-charging the engine using
exhaust gases and the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) method (Sivaprahasam et al., 2018).
However, these do not produce an appreciable reduction in heat lost to the atmosphere; thus,
several technologies have been used explicitly to recover the engine's waste heat. Shi et al.(Shi et
al., 2016) numerically modeled an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) used to generate electrical

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power from an automobile engine’s exhaust gases. Tian et al. (Shi et al., 2018) experimentally

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investigated using the CO2-based trans-critical Rankine cycle to recover waste heat from the
engine. Wahile et al.(Wahile et al., 2020) recovered about 5.5% of the exhaust energy using

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sodium nitrate as the phase change material (PCM). These technologies, however, are lacking in
compactness and are generally bulky. TEG has thus been used in the recent past as a promising
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alternative to waste heat recovery in automotive engines (Mohamed, 2019).
The TEG performance in automobile engines has been studied in various researches. They have
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investigated the effect of contact resistance, the flow rate of the exhaust gases, and the
temperature difference between the cold and hot sides. Liang et al., (2011) correlated the contact
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resistance to the TEG internal resistance. As the contact resistance increases from 0 to 3 ohms, a
decline in the output current from 3A to 0.25A and TEG electrical power from 1.5W to 0.5W is
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observed. Liu et al., (2015) investigated the effect of varying the cold-side flowrate on TEG
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power output for an automobile engine. With the maximum flow rate fixed at 0.6m3/hr, the TEG
system produced 183.24W of electrical power. Increasing this flowrate reduces the heat sink
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temperature, thus increasing the temperature difference. The geometry of the heat sink used, and
the engine speed also influence the output power of the TEG. Kim et al., (2016) experimentally
investigated the effect of engine speed and load on power output. The engine speed directly
affects exhaust gas flowrate while the load affects the exhaust temperature. Results show that
2000 rpm and 0.6MPa brake pressure, a maximum power output of 119W, and conversion
efficiency of 2.8% were realized. Thus, higher speeds and loads improve the TEG performance
in automobiles. In one particular study, Lan et al., (2018) numerically modeled a dynamic
temperature-controlled TEG design to predict the output power by varying the hot-end and cold-

16
end temperatures shown in Figure . A 20% increase in the power output was realized due to the
optimization of the hot-side heat exchanger, thus reducing the effects of thermal contact.
The analysis of the TEGs requires mathematical modeling of the heat balance and electrical
network principles. The following assumptions were taken into consideration (Lan et al., 2018):
 The changes in the temperature difference across thermocouples have a proportional
effect on the Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, and electrical resistance.
 The heat conduction between the tabs is negligible compared to the axial heat conduction
from the hot to cold sides.

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 Since the Seebeck coefficient is assumed constant, Thomson’s effect is negligible.

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Performing an electrical energy balance on the cold and hot sides of the TEG equations (8) and
(9) are produced. These two show that the energy dissipated due to internal resistance helps to

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improve cooling on the cold side, whereas the same internal resistance limits output from the hot
side of the thermoelectric generator module (Lan et al., 2018)
e- (8)
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(9)
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Figure 8: Engine test schematic coupled with a TEG system(Lan et al., 2018)
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 The temperature difference between the heat source and sink largely determines the performance
of the TEG. Therefore, the heat capacities of the source and sink have a significant impact on the
amount of power produced from the thermoelectric generator. Eldesoukey and Hassan (2019)
showed that the heat transfer rate on the cold-side heat exchanger has a more significant effect on
power generation than the heat transfer rate from the hot fluid to the TEG. This shows that
improving the cooling (heat dissipation) from the cold side of the TEG can essentially enhance
TEG efficiency. A summary of the presented research works on waste heat recovery using the

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thermoelectric generator for automotive engines is shown in Table 3.

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Table 3: Reviewed studies on waste heat recovery from automobile engines

Reference Main idea Type of Main outcome

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paper
Liu et Influence of applied Experimental
e-  Lowering the cooling temperature while
al.(2015) pressure on power increasing heating temperature (up to 3600C)
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outputs from a low- increases power output
temperature waste heat Pressure application increases the power output
engine using TEG from the TEG when applied within acceptable
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limits not to overrun the engine operating

conditions.
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Orr et Effect of coupling TEG Experimental  Using heat pipes in waste heat recovery
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al.(2016) and a heat pipe on waste reduces the thermal resistance associated with
heat recovery from an
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TEGs and pressure losses from the engine, thus

automobile engine. improving its design flexibility.
 The limitations of a TEG, such as low
efficiency and temperature limits when coupled
with a heat pipe with limited heat transfer, can
help supplement each device's limitations and
improve output power.
Kim et al. Analysis of TEG power Experimental  The output power of the TEG depends on

18
(2016) output on an engine the speed and load of the engine. The higher the
subject to varying loads speed and larger the load, the more power
and speeds produced.
Wei et Effect of unsteady high- Numerical  High power output results from efficient
al.(2017) temperature exhaust on optimization of the heat exchanger.
the net power output of a Maximum output from an unsteady exhaust
thermoelectric generator temperature can be achieved by optimizing the
using flow resistance heat exchanger height within the range of 4–6

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and heat transfer mm while the width and length within 50 – 80

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characteristics cm.
Lan et Dynamic modeling of Numerical &  TEG power output from a transiently

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al.(2018) TEG used in IC engine Experimental loaded engine was accurately predicted, and thus
waste heat recovery e- the systems can be used as a control system to
protect the TEGs.
 Nanofluid
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Karan and Effect of using MgO and Numerical coolants improve the
Sahoo (2018) ZnO nanofluids as a performance of TEG, such as power output,
coolant in TEG waste conversion efficiency, and voltage.
al

heat recovery of an  The MgO nanofluid performed better than

automobile engine ZnO, and the concentration of the nanofluid
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influences the performance.

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Using nanofluid such as MgO reduced the

effective area covered by TEG; hence a minor
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TEG system would be required.

Cao et Enhancing Experimental  Due to their high thermal conductivity, heat
al.(2018), thermoelectric pipes are best suited for effective heat transfer
generation from an with minimal thermal resistance.
automobile engine using The depth and inclination angle relative to the
a heat pipe stream flow direction are the primary factors
affecting optimal performance for a heat pipe-

19
 assisted TEG. A depth of 60mm and an angle of
150 are required for optimal performance.
Zhao et al. Improving TEG Numerical  A phase-change intermediate fluid is used
(2019) performance using an to transfer exhaust heat to the TEG. The
intermediate fluid in separation of the TEG improves uniform
automotive exhaust. temperature distribution.
 Under a flow condition of 4000C and 20 g/s,
there is a 32.6% increase in peak power output

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and a reduction in thermoelectric module area of

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73.8%. The output power density is 5.12 times
more compared to the standard TEG.

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Andre et Geometric optimization Numerical  The heat exchanger fins, exhaust or cooling
al.(2019) of TEG heat exchanger e- ducts, and the TEG ceramic plates should be as
used in heavy-duty thin as possible.

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vehicles The fin-type to be used depends on the
vehicle under consideration, but the strip and
plain fins have the best power output.
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Massaguer et Engine performance and Experimental  Cold starts have a characteristic high NOx
al.(2020) after-treatment analysis & Numerical
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and carbon monoxide emissions.

using a TEG and  At a limiting exhaust gas temperature of
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exhaust gas heater on 3500C, using TEG in the engine's exhaust

emissions control.
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improves the emissions up to 97%, while the

catalytic efficiency is improved by about 94%.
Hilmin et al. Effect of TiO2 nanofluid Experimental  TiO2 increased the temperature gradient
(2020) cooling on TEG power across the TEG to 30.4% hence improving the
generation from the power output of the TEG system for the engine.
engine exhaust gas  The results are attributed to the nanofluid's
high thermal conductivity and heat capacity.
Abderezak Recovering automobile Experimental  The experiment was done on a Renault

20
and Randi waste heat from the Kangoo 1.5 DCI car with a favorable radiator
(2020) radiator using a temperature (92 – 950C) and available space.
thermoelectric generator  Both theoretical and experimental models
were used. The simplified TEG system did not
perform well in the experimental case compared
to the numerical case. A 10% difference was
registered.
 Interfacial thermal resistance between the

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TEG and the radiator influenced the power

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output. A 1.8W and 3.85% maximum power and
efficiency was obtained

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Aljaghtham Recovering waste heat Numerical  Electricity can be generated if the car is
and Celik from the oil pan of an e- driven in a colder region, at high speeds, use
(2020) automobile engine using high-temperature engine oils, or fins are used to
extract away heat from the oil. A 5.77kW/m-2
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TEG
was achieved at 760C in a multi-step oil pan.
 The redesigned thermoelectric oil pan can
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be easily used in conventional paan hence no

costs.
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Karana and Waste heat recovery in Numerical  Twisted tapes significantly reduce the
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Sahoo (2021) TEG heat exchanger and exhaust heat exchanger while improving the
with twisted tape inserts Experimental
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power output.
 These tapes can thus be used for geometric
optimization of the heat exchanger for maximum
power output in minimum size.
Albatati and Effect of load resistance Numerical  The higher the number of modules, the
Attar(2021) and number of TEG and higher the output power up to a level for which
modules on power Experimental increasing the modules only increases the
output for a semi-truck internal resistance by a large magnitude which

21
 engine lowers the efficiency and output power.
Maximum power is produced when 12700
modules which 400 ohms of load resistance.
Hassan and Exhaust heat recovery Numerical -  Pin-finned heat exchanger immersed in
Samanta using TEGs with ANSYS) engine oil produces a better cooling result
(2021) immersed heat compared to parallel slot finned heat exchanger.
exchanger cooling
method

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Poornima and Performance Experimental  Water was used as a coolant instead of air

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Vivekanandan investigation of & Numerical  The temperature difference in the water-
(2021) gasoline-powered cooled TEG reduced significantly compared to

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engines with water- the air-cooled TEG, reducing the amount of
cooled TEG e- power produced.
Yin et al. Performance Numerical  Two thermoelectric materials were used.
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(2021) enhancement of (MATLAB) Those with better performance at higher
automobile temperatures were used closest to the exhaust gas
thermoelectric entrance, and Low-performing materials were
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generators using a used further from the exhaust.

cascaded two-stage  The two-stage design achieved a 13.5%
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TEG. increment in power output compared to the

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single-stage TEG at 873K exhaust temperature

and 10g/s flowrate.
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 Increasing the exhaust temperature, flow

rate, and TEG couples in the second stage
increase the output power, and rising TEG legs
gives a negative result.
Luo et al. Analyzing the effect of Numerical  The vehicle’s exhaust temperature and flow
(2021a) transient flow conditions (COMSOL) rates change depending on the drive cycle; hence,
on automotive TEG for a steady-state numerical analysis is insufficient.

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 waste heat recovery  In transient conditions, output voltage and
power are relatively stable compared to
conversion efficiency.
 The seven drive cycles (ECE) showed that a
steady-state analysis overestimated the output
electrical energy by 12.6% from the TEG,
compared to the transient (more practical and
reliable) flow condition.

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Zhao et al. Integration of a heat Numerical  A countercurrent heat exchanger using

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(2021) transfer fluid circulation (Mathematical syltherm800 fluid draws heat from the exhaust
system to enhance the modeling) channel, transferring it to the TEG for conversion

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hot-side temperature of to electricity.
an automobile e-  The final temperature reaching TEG is less
thermoelectric generator. than that in a TEG directly attached to the
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exhaust pipe. However, the output power is still
higher due to the fluid’s high heat transfer
coefficient.
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 There is a 77.5% increase in output power

with an 83.2% reduction in the module area
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required, making good economic sense.

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 Increasing the length of the exhaust heat

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exchanger and the difference between exchanger

diameters decrease the power output. This system
creates negative backpressure; however, the
effect is minimal compared to the benefits of
using TEG.
3.2 Heat exchanger design for TEGs in automobile engines
The above literature showed that since the hot side of the TEG is generally fixed, the power
output or conversion efficiency can be improved by ensuring that heat is extracted (from the
cold-side heat exchanger) at the lowest temperature possible. Therefore, heat exchangers play an
23
essential role in the heat recovery of an automotive exhaust TEG. With proper design, the heat
exchanger can realize a steep temperature gradient and improve the power extraction without
producing parasitic backpressure in the engine. Optimum design and sizing of the heat exchanger
thus become necessary. A heat exchanger assembly for waste heat utilization in automotive
engines is as shown in Figure .
The efficiency of a heat exchanger is influenced by the type used, the geometric configuration of
the internal surface, and the type of material used in its construction (Sivaprahasam et al., 2018).
The material type used in the design depends on its density, thermal conductivity, and ease of

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manufacture (Frobenius et al., 2016; Merkisz et al., 2016). Most automotive heat exchangers are

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mainly made from stainless steel, aluminum, or in some cases, brass, which are either direct or
contact type heat exchangers. Different configurations of heat exchangers used in automotive

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engines are shown in Figure 5. As heat is extracted from the exhaust stream, there is a noticeable
decline in the temperature of the gas downstream compared to the temperature at the inlet of the
e-
heat exchanger. Since low-temperature streams have a corresponding low power output,
downstream TEG modules have a limited output. This, therefore, limits the number of modules
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to be used in the heat exchanger beyond the required length for optimum power production
(Kempf and Zhang, 2016).
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Figure 9: Typical TEG heat exchanger system used in automobile engines(Lan et al., 2018)
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Figure 5: Types of an automotive heat exchanger. (a) Free cavity, (b) Inclined plate, (c) Parallel
plate type, (d) Serrated plate, (e) Serial structure, (d) pipe type heat exchanger(Bai et al., 2014)

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The flow direction of the cooling fluid relative to the exhaust stream determines the efficiency of
the heat exchanger. These include the parallel flow type, the counter-flow type, and the
crossflow heat exchangers. The counter-flow type maintains the highest temperature difference
throughout the flow line, followed by the crossflow then the co-flow heat exchanger
(Sivaprahasam et al., 2018). However, the power output is still affected by the geometric design
of the heat exchanger. The coolant used in dissipating away heat from the heat exchanger could
be supplied from a separate line or integrated with the engine’s cooling system. However, Deng
et al.( 2014) showed that choosing the second option would (in some cases) overpower the pump

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and radiator capacity of the engine, making the cooling process ineffective.

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Wang et al.( 2018) conducted a comparative numerical study on the performance improvements
associated with using dimpled heat exchangers compared to finned heat exchangers (HEX) on an

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intercooler turbo diesel engine. Four heat exchangers with 240 thermoelectric modules, arranged
in parallel with staggered fins and symmetric dimpled surfaces, were used (Figure 6). The study
e-
presents a CFD analysis on the temperature, pressure, and velocity distributions of the two types
of heat exchangers. Results show a more significant temperature difference between the exhaust
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gas, the cooling fluid, and a 20.57% reduction in the engine pressure drop for the dimpled HEX
compared to the finned type. A MATLAB/Simulink program was designed using the CFD
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outputs as inputs to calculate the net output power. The net power from the dimpled surface was
173.6% higher than the finned HEX. These results were experimentally validated by the actual
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design of the automotive thermoelectric generator (ATEG) made from brass and cooled by the
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engine coolant. These results were compared effectively with an acceptable error margin of
2.55%.
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Figure 6: TEG system with staggered fins and dimpled surfaces for waste heat recovery(Wang et
al., 2018)
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Using thermoelectric generators, several other heat exchanger designs have improved the waste
heat recovery efficiency. Table 4 summarizes such research by outlining the type of engine the
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heat exchanger was tested, the kind of material used for the HEX, the type of heat exchanger
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designed, and the main research findings.

Table 4: Summary of reviewed works on heat exchanger design
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Reference The main idea of Engine type HEX Main outcome

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the paper and rating material of

used construction
Liu et Experimental Diesel engine Aluminum  The novel hexagonal-type two-stage TEG
al.(2016) investigation of system results in a 5.35% conversion
two-stage TEG efficiency which is 32% higher than the
for automotive single-stage heat exchanger system.
waste heat Maximum power is produced at an optimal
recovery operating temperature of 473K.

27
Cao et al.(Cao Influence of fin- Diesel engine Copper  Fins enhance effective heat distribution
et al., 2018) assisted heat within the heat pipe, improving the
pipes on TEG temperature gradient
waste heat Heat pipe performance can be enhanced by
recovery in varying the depth into the exhaust stream and
engines inclination.
Nithyanandam Effect of the A numerical Silicon  Foam-enhanced TEGs have improved
& Mahajan ( foam-based heat model with carbide performance compared to metal-based heat

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2018) exchanger on 5500C exhaust foam exchangers.

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waste heat gas Low-density metal foams with high porosity
recovery using indices produced the best heat exchanger and

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TEG thus high electrical output.
Choi et al.( TEG waste heat Six-cylinder Aluminum
e-  Thermoelectric modules made from
2019) recovery using diesel engine plates bismuth-telluride (Bi2Te3)

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finned heat operated Porous media (perforated plate) improves
exchanger between 1000 the TEG performance with an optimum
enabled by a – 1400 pm porosity limit level of 0.32 to 0.46
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porous media  Undesirable backpressure drops result in

cases where the porosity is less than the lower
n

limit (0.32)
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Ramirez et TEG Single Copper  The waffle heat exchanger produces the
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al.(Ramírez et performance cylinder lowest pressure drop (1.2kPa) among the three
al., 2019) based on a diesel engine types (over 3kPa) hence selected for use
waffle, offset  Biodiesels perform better than diesel fuel.
strip, and They have high oxygen content, producing
rectangular heat lower emissions and high-temperature exhaust
exchangers for gas, improving TEG performance.
diesel and
biodiesel fuels

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Najjar & Optimizing the Theoretical Stainless  Copper is better for making heat
Sallam(, fin spacing, data from steel; exchangers compared to stainless steel.
2019) thickness, and previous work Copper  Among the three fin parameters, spacing
height for an is vital as it affects the pumping power of
offset-strip fin coolant, heat transfer coefficient, and hence
HEX for TEG net power out.
waste heat
recovery

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Wei et al.(He Optimizing the Gasoline Copper  TEM area and the heat exchanger height

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et al., 2019) performance of engine are the vital influence parameters in TEG
TEG using a power generation.

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plate-type heat  Both air and water-cooling strategies
exchanger e- were used. Optimal performance is achieved
when exhaust temperature and velocity are
within acceptable limits of 5000C and 50gs-1,
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respectively.
Oacheco et al. Effect of heat Light-duty Aluminum  The corrugated aluminum heat pipes
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( 2020) pipes in gasoline corrugated embedded on TEG are more suitable for
automotive TEG engine heat pipes applications with high variations of the
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for thermal thermal load

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control  It has a promising potential of reducing

fuel consumption by 5.4% and hence the CO2
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emissions.
Remeli et al. ( Influence of Diesel engine Plate-type  Hexagonally arranged heat sinks affect the
2021) hexagonally heat power production of TEG based on the height
arranged TEG exchanger of the sink fins.
for vehicle waste  Maximum power is produced with an
heat recovery optimal fin height within the range of 4%
more than the width.

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Neska et al. ( Analysis of TEG Diesel engine Aluminum  Mixed flow (co- and counter-current) in
2021) power alloy heat exchangers produces high effectiveness
generation using and power production.
a two-sectioned  A mixed-section heat exchanger improves
hot-side heat the power production from the TEG
exchanger

A summary of the published works in waste heat recovery in automobile engines using the

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thermoelectric generator is shown in Figure 7. The outline was generated using Scopus between

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2008 and the present day (December 2021).

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Figure 7: Summary of research works done in waste heat recovery using TEG in automobile
engines [Scopus, 2021]
3.3 Application of TEG for waste heat recovery in industrial applications

In most industrial production and power generation facilities, the waste heat is directly dissipated
into the environment, causing severe environmental pollution. Recovering this waste heat
remains the primary focus of most sustainable energy research work because it reduces the
energy consumed and helps accelerate the transition of the energy structure within such energy-
intensive fields(Chen et al., 2022). Research emphasis has been made on recovering heat from
30
medium and high-temperature sources. In contrast, low-temperature waste heat (approximately
60% of the total industrial waste produced) has received minimal attention. There is an emerging
interest in thermoelectric generators as a more suitable technology for recovering low-
temperature waste heat from industrial processes regardless of their low conversion efficiency. It
has been found that the geometry of the TEG, construction materials, and operating conditions
are the critical influence parameters that require improvement (Chen et al., 2022). Lv et al. (Lv et
al., 2018) show that varying operating conditions, such as type of coolant used, temperature
difference, flowrates, etc., have a more significant impact on its conversion efficiency than the

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other two areas.

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Chen et al. ( 2022) performed a numerical analysis of industrial low-temperature waste heat
recovery analysis using TEGs with plate fins to determine the effect of using different fluid

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combinations and the number of fins on power production. The fluid combinations used include
cold water-hot air, cold water-hot water, cold air-hot air, and cold air-hot water fluid systems.
e-
For the four fluid combinations tested, it was found that using a cold water–hot wastewater
system produced the highest output power compared to the rest, with the cold air – hot air system
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producing the most negligible power output. The high performance of the waste-water system is
due to the high convective potential in the water, allowing for efficient heat transfer hence a
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large temperature gradient. The study also showed that at low Reynolds numbers (Re = 10 and
100), the optimal number of fins used in the hot-side heat exchanger should be 9, which produces
n

large pressure drops. A similar study (Chen et al., 2021) comparing plate fins with rectangular
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pin fins showed that square pin fins improved the heat transfer rate, reduced pressure drop, and
increased the overall output power from the thermoelectric module.
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Wang et al.(Wang et al., 2020) explored a novel heat pipe-assisted TEG for high-temperature
industrial waste heat recoveries or waste gas or molten slag. The heat pipes, which are isothermal
and of high thermal conductivity (Hussam Jouhara et al., 2017) (approximately 35831W/m.K at
temperatures above 5000C), are used to extract heat from the source then transfer it to the TEG
through a copper heat exchanger coupling after which, through the application of adequate
cooling, electricity is generated. The schematic used in the experiment is as shown in Figure 13.
TEG performance is affected by the heat transfer rate on both the hot and cold sides of the
thermoelectric module. The heat transfer on the cold side can be carried out using free

31
convection, forced convection(Hassan, 2014), heat pipes(Hassan and Harmand, 2015), etc. and
can be enhanced using nanomaterials(Hassan and Harmand, 2013). According to Eldesoukey and
Hassan ( 2019), TEG performance for chimney waste heat recovery can be improved by
installing the modules at the regions with the most turbulent flow and areas with a high-
temperature gradient, i.e., the inlets of the hot and cold fluids. They also showed that the heat
transfer rate at the cold side is more pronounced on the TEG performance than on the hot side.
Consequently, Khalil and Hassan (Khalil and Hassan, 2020) numerically investigated the effect
of using a heat spreader on the cold-side heat sink on power output and conversion efficiency of

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vertically mounted TEGs on a chimney wall. Th results showed a 42% increase in the TEG

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power output when a heat spreader of length and pitch 140mm was used, while the overall
efficiency was increased by 20.4%.

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Figure 8: Schematic of the heat pipe-assisted TEG(Wang et al., 2020)

In another study, Khalil and Hassan (Khalil and Hassan, 2019a) integrated an inclined flap to
their initial cold-side heat sink with a spreader system for TEG power generation. The aim was

32
to determine the effect of the flap, with a variable height (between 20mm to 35mm) and depth
(between 14mm to 50mm), on the heat transfer from the TEG. A 3D numerical model of the heat
sink (Figure 14) was designed and analyzed in ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS Mechanical under
natural convection flow conditions. Results showed that the new heat sink improved the TEG
passive cooling by 64% and a corresponding 129% increase in power output; thus, the new
system can improve the TEGs in low-grade waste heat recovery with no additional running costs.
Depending on the application and available space, exhaust chimneys may have different
inclinations, either vertical, horizontal, or at an angle. Khalil and Hassan(Khalil and Hassan,

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2019b) investigated the effect of chimney inclination and the aspect ratio (AR) of TEGs on the

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chimney wall on the output power under natural convection. In their 3D numerical study, the
aspect ratio was defined as the distance between two consecutive linear TEGs to the length of a

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single TEG module (Khalil and Hassan, 2019b; Kouma et al., 2013) varied from 1.5 to 4. The
inclination was changed from 00 to 150. The study showed that a higher TEG aspect ratio is
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recommended (AR of 4 improves the power by 45%). It is known that TEGs located downstream
have lower performance due to low-temperature gradient(Kim et al., 2017); therefore, tilting the
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chimney towards the flue gas has a pronounced effect on the power output downstream TEGs.
The study showed that the 150 tilt from the vertical improves the uppermost TEGs by 5%, with
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little impact on the output power from the lower TEGs. Thus, it enhances the performance of the
TEGs irrespective of the whole length of the chimney.
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Figure 14: Modified heat sink with heat spreader and inclined flap(Khalil and Hassan, 2019a)

Several studies have been done on applying TEGs in recovering heat from rotating cement kilns.
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In such applications, the TEG system is never placed on the kiln surface as this would increase
its weight leading to more power requirements for rotation. Sztekler et al. ( 2017) studied
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radiative waste heat recovery from a rotating cement kiln using TEG for hot water production.
An arc-forming TEG system covering 600 of its circumference was installed 1m below the kiln
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for a length of 12m. A total of 11kW of power was produced from their study. Two studies (Hsu
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et al., 2013; Luo et al., 2015) have also shown that the optimal gap between the TEG system and
the rotating kiln for maximum power production should be 10cm. Mirhosseini et al. (Mirhosseini
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et al., 2019) investigated the performance of two thermoelectric materials on power produced
from a rotating kiln. It was found that phase zinc antimonide performed better than bismuth
telluride. Charilaou et al. ( 2019) numerically designed an optimal heat exchanger fin for TEG
waste heat recovery in a cement factory. The design of the experimental technique was used to
settle on a novel fin design from the several designs investigated. It was found that the fin width
and spacing significantly affect power output compared to the number of TEGs used. The
optimal width and spacing considered were found to be 3mm and 6mm, respectively. Kuroki et
al. (2015) analyzed the TEG performance used to recover waste heat from a steelmaking process.

34
Ge et al., (2021) presents a novel alternative to achieving a lower cold-side temperature of a TEG
system by using the cold energy in cryogenic liquids such as liquid nitrogen, helium, and natural
gas. Liquid nitrogen of temperature 77K was used in the experimental setup to absorb waste heat
from the hot side of the TEG and dissipate it to the environment, achieving a larger temperature
gradient. Power generation is achieved in both the liquid phase and the gas phase with the liquid
phase producing the largest temperature difference.
Improving the temperature gradient across the TEG enhances convective heat dissipation. Forced
convection through the use of fans has been found to produce better TEG efficiency than natural

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passive cooling; however, fans lower the net power output from the recovery system and

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introduce additional costs in acquiring the fans. Rezania et al. (Rezania et al., 2012) showed that
a given fluid flow rate is required from the pump/fan to achieve a particular temperature

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gradient. Cho et al. ( 2020) conducted a comparative numerical study between side-mounted and
top-mounted fan systems on several TEGs (Figure 15). The aim was to determine a rational
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number of TEGs that a single fan can efficiently cool at a given speed to help reduce the cost of
other fans, as with the standard top-mounted fan systems. Results showed an optimal net power
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of 1.91W would be generated from a single fan operated at 13000 revs/min. Also, the side-
mounted fan-produced 58.6% more power for a single TEG than the top-mounted fan. Table 5
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gives a concise summary of past research studies that have been done on waste heat recovery for
industrial applications and the primary outcomes from each.
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Figure 9: Side and top-mounted fan configurations(Cho et al., 2020)

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Table 5: Summary of waste heat recovery using TEG for industrial applications
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Reference Main idea Type of Main outcome
paper
Remeli et al. (, Investigating power Experimental 
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Due to its high thermal conductivity, the heat

2016) generation capacity study pipe-TEG system produced a max 2.2% conversion
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of a heat pipe- efficiency for a hot-side temperature of 60-100oC.

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assisted TEG system  Maximum power of 7W is produced when the

in waste heat air face velocity is limited to 1.1m/s.
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recovery  The system can better than standalone TEG due

to high overall power efficiency (up to 54%)
Zhao et al. ( Characterization of Numerical  Natural gas boilers produce both dry and wet
2017) thermoelectric analysis flue gas. Wet flue gas has a better heat transfer
generation from wet coefficient compared to dry gas.
exhaust gas from a  TEG power output performance is improved by
natural gas boiler humidifying the exhaust gas. This also reduces the
effective area required for the TEG module, hence

36
 lowering the cost.
Savani et al. ( Application of TEG Numerical  Power output from the TEG increases from the
2017) in transient waste analysis time the casting process is begun to a maximum, after
heat: silicon casting which it starts to decrease due to the transient nature of
plant. the heat source.
 Power output is influenced by the position and
orientation of the TEG relative to the heat source and
the heat dissipation capacity.

f


oo
An average power density of up to 10% of the
peak power was achieved. This was due to the
material’s limiting thermal threshold and inefficient

pr
cooling.
Rodrigues et Waste heat recovery Experimental e-  Composts are an excellent source of thermal
al. ( 2018) from composting energy during their complete cycle, which can be
Pr
organic material harvested to run other auxiliary electrical load
using a TEG. requirements.
 For a complete 33-day cycle, an average 200C
al

temperature gradient was realized, which produced

approximately 11.3V, 18.5mA, and a power density of
n

175mW/m2. This power was used to operate a 12V

ur

LED light, power humidity, and temperature sensors.


Jo

Ghosh et al. ( A TEG case study Numerical The study considered the temperature-dependent
2018) of waste radiant heat analysis material properties of the modules for maximum
recovery from a utilization of the high-temperature difference (up to
steel casting process 100K) from the steel slabs.
 The power output is influenced by the distance
between the thermoelectric module and the hot slab.
The smaller the distance, the higher the TEG output
power. However, there is a minimum distance below

37
 which the heat input to the TEG exceeds the material’s
thermal constraints (550K), hence lowering the ZT
values, resulting in decreasing power output. The
optimal distance used was set at 2m.
 To maintain a significant temperature difference
across the module surfaces, a microchannel cooling
heat sink is required with a heat transfer coefficient
higher than 3000W/m2K to produce maximum output

f
power.

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 The hot-side heat transfer coefficient is less
valuable than the cold-side coefficient in terms of

pr
significance.
e-  Maximum performance was achieved using a
nano bismuth telluride material with a 2m thickness
Pr
and 0.3 fill factor. Maximum performance system
efficiency registered to be 4.6%.
Hoang et al. ( TEG performance Experimental  Fishbone fins act as heat enhancers on the hot
al

2021) evaluation using side of the thermoelectric module. There was a high-
fishbone-shaped temperature gradient for TEG with fishbone fins
n

heat exchanger fins. compared to that without

ur

 The maximum conversion efficiency from the

TEG assisted with the fishbone fins was improved to
Jo

2.93%.
Casi et al. TEG waste heat Numerical &  An air-cooled cold-side heat exchanger system
(Casi et al., recovery from experimental produced an average of 4.6W electrical power for 30
2021) Rockwool analysis days with a conversion efficiency of 2.38%.
manufacturing plant  The numerical analysis projects an annual
flue gas. 30.8MWh of electrical power from the recovery
system, which could meet household demands.

38
Araiz et al. ( Optimizing the Numerical  Waste heat recovery was based on the curing
2020) power output and oven exhaust pipe of the plant with a TEG system
economic cost of a consisting of finned and biphasic thermosiphon heat
TEG used in exchangers for hot and cold sides, respectively.
recovering waste  The occupancy ratio majorly affects the TEG
heat from a stone power output along the length of the exhaust duct. The
wool manufacturing higher the percentage, the higher the power, and vice
plant. versa.

f
 A fin spacing of the hot-side heat exchanger

oo
affects the pressure drops, which thus increases the fan
power to blow air. A maximum capacity of 45.838kW

pr
is realized at a 10mm fin spacing and a 0.4 occupancy
ratio.
e-  Installation cost is minimized to 10.6€/W at an
Pr
occupancy ratio of 0.24.
Chen et al. ( Optimization of a Numerical  The influence of Reynolds number, heat removal
2020) TEG system for (ANSYS) rate, the geometry of the flue gas channel, and using
al

industrial waste heat dual (double) modules is investigated numerically.

recovery: A CFD  Higher Reynolds numbers reduce the boundary
n

approach layer thickness, improving heat transfer from the hot

ur

side.

Jo

Water was the best coolant due to its high

convective potential compared to air. Forced
convection improves the heat removal rate, increasing
the gradient.
 Reducing the channel geometry increases the
flow velocity, which thus implies more heat is
recovered from the flue gas, thereby improving the
performance of the TEG.

39
Casi et al. TEG geometric Numerical  Water-cooled sintered heat pipes having a 5mm
(2021) optimization for and fin spacing exposed to natural convection were used to
waste heat recovery experimental dissipate 200W of the heat from the module. This
in a Rockwool configuration was numerically optimized.
manufacturing plant  For 70.80C temperature gradient, 4.6W was
produced with a conversion efficiency of 2.38%. The
model can be upscaled to produce 3.52kW/year with
many TEGs.

f
Yang et al. ( Modularization of a Experimental 

oo
A single module of 5 thermoelectric modules
2021) compact heat analysis sandwiched between a water-cooled compact plate heat
exchanger for TEG exchanger and a copper heating block to act as a heat

pr
low-grade waste source.
heat recovery e-  Net power output, conversion efficiency,
temperature distribution, and heat exchanger
Pr
effectiveness (thermal performance) were analyzed.
 A power density of 86.4kW/m3 was realized at a
96.40C temperature difference. The parasitic load from
al

water pumping was negligible (about 0.64% of overall

power output) hence a feasible design.
n

 The counterflow design created a uniform

ur

temperature distribution and minimal pressure drop in

Jo

the heat exchanger.

 The improved performance of the modularized
TEG can thus be upscaled for large-scale applications.
Zheng & Kang Enhancing heat Numerical  Besides convective cooling, fin performance can
(2021) recovery potential of and be significantly enhanced by adding an evaporative
TEGs using an experimental cooling.
evaporative cooling analysis  The TEG power output is limited by increasing
heat sink the ambient temperature, relative humidity, and fin

40
 thickness. In contrast, the fin height improves the
power output up to a certain point above which the
cooling capacity of the passive evaporative cooling
heat sink starts to decrease.
 An optimized 11 fins produced a maximum
power output of 4.1W at a 200C ambient temperature.
 This improved model of the heat sink was 1.83
and 3.33 times better in open-circuit voltage and

f
maximum power than the conventional air-cooled heat

oo
sink.
Wang et al. ( Improving the Numerical  TEG is formed by embedding p-n elements on

pr
2021) natural circulation in analysis hot vapor (2400C) tubes and cooled by natural air.
nuclear power e-  Part of the TEG power output was used to run a
cooling towers using blower, while the other part was for different electrical
Pr
a TEG-powered needs.
blower.  The TEG system improves the cooling capacity
of the original system by 37%.
al

Mohammadnia Investigating the Experimental  The electrical load of the cooling fan was
et al. ( 2021) effect of DC fan analysis
n

coupled to the power output from the TEG.

operation on the  Using the fan primarily depends on the
ur

power output of temperature of flue gas and the external load, and the
Jo

self-cooling TEG. fan can't be used for low inlet temperatures and high
external loads.
 The fans only become applicable if the external
load is kept at a minimum. This varies depending on
the inlet temperature, i.e., for 3300C and 2800C, a
minimum of 150 ohms and 272 ohms are required,
respectively.
 There was a significant improvement in TEG

41
 performance when using the cooling fans, providing
sufficient power generation.
Schwurack et Using the chimney Experimental  The chimney effect depends primarily on the
al. ( 2021) effect to enhance the analysis channel geometry to improve the cooling performance.
natural convection A vertical channel with a finned heat exchanger is
cooling for small- used.
scale TEG systems  Adiabatic walls improve the chimney effect, but
on the contrary, this reduces the heat dissipation; hence

f
the walls should not be insulated.

oo
 Longer chimneys improve heat transfer rate up
to 1000mm (for this case), above which stagnation

pr
occurs.
e-  The number of fins, length, and height influence
the chimney effect and heat transfer for the heat
Pr
exchanger.
 The chimney effect overall improved the TEG
power output by 46.2% compared to those without the
al

chimney
Zhao et al., Heat pipe-assisted Experimental 
n

Heat pipe can be used to improve the hot-side

(2022) TEG for low analysis temperature of the TEG in low temperature sources
ur

temperature waste such as geothermal or solar energy.


Jo

heat recovery. Increasing the heating power decreases the

thermal resistance thus improving the conversion
efficiency.
 Maximum efficiency is attained when only
single TEM is used at the condenser of the pipe.
 Maximum power output produced is 10.85W

Table 6 shown below gives a summary of the main performance characteristics of thermoelectric
generators used for waste heat recovery in automotive and industrial systems.
42
 Table 6: Comparison of various TEG parameters in automotive and industrial applications

Area of Maximum Maximum Maximum Cooling method Material (and

application temperature conversion power output used number of
Source
difference efficiency (%) (W) TEMs used)
(K)
Capillary-assisted
(Zheng and Bismuth
General 71.89 - 1.46 evaporative
Kang, 2022) telluride (1)
cooling

f
oo
(Liu et al., Automobile Forced water Bismuth
235 - 183.24
2015) engine cooling telluride (60)
(Kim et al., Automobile Bismuth

pr
304.1 2.8 119 Water cooled
2016) engine telluride (40)

(Chen and
e- 21.94% more
than Natural air
Segmented
TEG having
Chiou, Numerical 400 14.05
Pr
conventional cooling different
2020)
TEG materials (1)
(Luo et al., Automotive Forced engine Bismuth
al

125 1.53 38.07

2022) engine coolant telluride (16)
n

(Chen et al., Industrial Counter-flow Bismuth

15 0.95 0.411
2022) chimney water/air cooling telluride (3)
ur

(Zhao et al.,
Automotive Engine coolant Bismuth
Jo

2017)(Wang 263 0.68 133.46

engine fluid telluride (60)
et al., 2018)
(Meng et Automotive Counter-flow Bismuth
175 8.14 10.5
al., 2016) engine water/air cooling telluride (8)
(Ghosh et Industrial Forced water Bismuth
200 4.6 45
al., 2018) steel casting cooling telluride (1)

A summary of the published works in waste heat recovery in industrial applications using the
thermoelectric generator from 2000 till the present day (December 2021) is shown in Figure .
43
 f
oo
pr
e-
Pr
Figure 16: Summary of published research in TEG wasted heat recovery for industrial
applications [Scopus,2021]
al

4 Conclusion
n
ur

This paper presents a critical survey of the application of thermoelectric generators in recovering
waste heat from major thermal energy-consuming sectors such as automotive and industrial
Jo

sectors as chimneys using state-of-the-art technologies and materials. The TEG reduces the
environmental pollution caused by the high-temperature exhaust heat from industrial and
automotive exhausts while also supplements the electrical requirements from the power
produced. The review has shown that TEG performance can be improved by increasing the
temperature gradient across the module, improving heat dissipation from the cold-side heat
exchanger, and using thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit and stable performance
at elevated temperatures. Several studies have investigated heat absorption and dissipation to and

44
from the TEG by considering the heat exchanger geometry, type of cooling fluid used, and effect
of forced convection.
It is evident that waste recovery is not yet explored to its total capacity. Various research gaps
exist that require further investigation to improve the performance of thermoelectric generators
and broaden their areas of application. The following are recommended:
 Most commercially available thermoelectric materials (Bismuth telluride) have low
operating temperature (maximum 2600C for continuous use) limiting their use in high-
temperature applications such as metal processing plants. New materials with better performance

f
at higher temperatures should be developed. Further research should be conducted on the use of

oo
clathrates, skutterudites, and complementary metal-oxide semiconductors, which have high
figures of merit to improve the performance of the thermoelectric materials.

pr
 Further, it has been realized that the inclination and positioning of the TEG with respect
to the heat source and coolant influence the TEG performance. It can be concluded that inclining
e-
the TEG system towards the heat source improves its heat absorption. At the same time, the
inclination should improve the heat dissipation because of buoyancy.
Pr
 The review showed that the cold-side temperature of the TEG has a pronounced effect on
the power output compared to the hot-side temperature. Research should focus on improving the
al

heat dissipation at the heat sink by optimizing the geometry of the heat sink and using fluids with
a high convective effect. It is recommended that using water or nanofluids with high heat
n

capacities instead of air would improve the heat dissipation from the TEG thus improving its
ur

performance.
 The main challenge with the forced cooling of TEGs, is the power consumed by the
Jo

cooling fans. Further research should be conducted to determine the optimum fan speed that
consumes minimal power while producing sufficient cooling effect to result in an overall
improvement of performance. Further studies could be carried out including best cooling system,
and best materials of the TEG system.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Egypt Japan University of Science and technology
(EJUST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) who offered the TICAD7

45
scholarship to the researcher and some of the facilities, tools, and equipment required to carry
out this research work.

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Declaration of interests

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☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal

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relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered
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as potential competing interests:
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