Corrosion Behavior in Volcanic Soils: In Search of Candidate Materials for Thermoelectric Devices.

Thermoelectric generators have emerged as an excellent solution for the energy supply of volcanic monitoring stations due to their compactness and continuous power generation. Nevertheless, in order to become a completely viable solution, it is necessary to ensure that their materials are able to resist in the acidic environment characteristic of volcanoes. Hence, the main objective of this work is to study the resistance to corrosion of six different metallic materials that are candidates for use in the heat exchangers.

Experimental Evidence of the Viability of Thermoelectric Generators to Power Volcanic Monitoring Stations.

Although there is an important lack of commercial thermoelectric applications mainly due to their low efficiency, there exist some cases in which thermoelectric generators are the best option thanks to their well-known advantages, such as reliability, lack of maintenance and scalability. In this sense, the present paper develops a novel application in order to supply power to volcanic monitoring stations, making them completely autonomous. These stations become indispensable in any volcano since they are able to predict eruptions.

Prospects of Autonomous Volcanic Monitoring Stations: Experimental Investigation on Thermoelectric Generation from Fumaroles.

Fumaroles represent evidence of volcanic activity, emitting steam and volcanic gases at temperatures between 70 and 100 ∘ C . Due to the well-known advantages of thermoelectricity, such as reliability, reduced maintenance and scalability, the present paper studies the possibilities of thermoelectric generators, devices based on solid-state physics, to directly convert fumaroles heat into electricity due to the Seebeck effect. For this purpose, a thermoelectric generator composed of two bismuth-telluride thermoelectric modules and heat pipes as heat exchangers was installed, for the first time, at Teide volcano (Canary Islands, Spain), where fumaroles arise in the surface at 82 ∘ C .