[Blog] What do room-temperature superconductors really mean for the industry?

Recently, a report in Nature announced the discovery of a room-temperature superconductor (RTS). While scientists are getting busy replicating and verifying the results and assessing the stability of the material and its potential scalability, we find it interesting to speculate about the potential impact if affordable RTS becomes a reality.

The most common story of RTS applicability is about eliminating the waste heat of wires during energy transmission over long distances. We don’t actually think that this use case is either realistic or interesting as electricity transmission losses (2-4% of electric generation) account for only a portion of total transmission and distribution losses (8-15%), so replacing all high-voltage lines with superconducting ones seems a bit extravagant - it will be to justify such a capex taking into account that this new material won’t most probably be cheap. There are more realistic solutions to drive the costs of electricity down (like microgrids based on renewable generation).

But if not lossless power transmission, then what are other potential uses for RTS? Here is a bunch:

1. Superconductors are already being used in some maglevs, either in electromagnets to create strong magnetic fields or for magnetic levitation due to the Meissner effect. The use of RTS instead of cooled superconductors could eliminate, or at least reduce the operating costs associated with maintaining a low temperature.

2. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES): accumulating 1MWh of energy requires a combination of large currents (kA level) and gigantic inductances (kH level). Although this may be a niche solution for the high discharge power needs, SMES systems designed to alleviate momentary interruptions (lasting from a few milliseconds to a few minutes) in wind turbines can improve grid stability. SMES are like supercapacitors and can compete with them, but their energy density remains at the level of 10 Wh/kg, so we do not consider them as a replacement for chemical energy storage.

3. Magnetic pressure generated by RTS can be used in technological processes to prevent contact between caustic chemistry and vessel walls. Alternatively, RTS can be used for the magnetic separation of ore components.

4. Nuclear magnetic resonance: this effect is used in MRI and chemical analysis and requires large superconducting magnets cooled down to cryogenic temperatures. Utilizing RTS could reduce the cost of such devices (or their operation) and lead to wider adoption of these instruments.

5. Magnetic field generation for controlled nuclear fusion: the energy costs of creating a magnetic field significantly hinder the energy breakeven of nuclear fusion. RTS can reduce heat dissipation and accelerate the adaptation of controlled fusion.

6. RTS could increase the efficiency of any electric motors, in the same way as low-temperature superconductors are already used for experimental aircraft engines. These can be industrial pumps for natural gas, methane, ammonia, and water, heat pumps for large premises, and engines of tankers, ships, and trucks, as they are already used in aircraft engines.

7. Combining SMES and maglev could bring electromagnetic catapults to aviation. These could be used in aircraft carriers, STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) passenger or cargo aircraft. Catapults can also reduce the cost of space launches as they can be used as a booster or a first stage of the rocket. On the Moon base or Martian colony, it can become a primary launch system.

So yeah, there are very interesting potential downstream effects of RST becoming a reality that can disrupt whole industries. But first, we have to understand if it works, what fundamental limitations the tech has (that can create purely engineering limitations on some theoretically possible use cases), and how much it’s gonna cost in each case. But. It’s exciting enough for us to start monitoring the development of the story.