Heat Recovery from Cryptocurrency Mining by Liquid Cooling Technology

Abstract

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, currently consumes an estimated 150 terawatt-hours of electricity annually. Most cryptocurrency miners have dissipated the thermal energy from mining chips to the ambient by air cooling circulation. To recover the thermal energy from cryptocurrency mining, an advanced heat recovery system has been developed, prototyped, and tested. The cryptocurrency miners in an enclosure are cooled by spraying dielectric coolant, then the coolant heated by the mining chips is collected and driven through the spiral heating coil immersed in a 190 L hot water tank. High efficient liquid spray cooling mechanism is the core of this design, by which maximum coolant temperature can reach 70°C in the field trail within the safe temperature limits of mining chips. In practice, this record temperature not only meets the minimum legionellosis risk management requirements for building water systems defined by ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188-2018 but also provides high-grade energy input to the building, district heating system, or booster heat pump/boiler if needed. In theory, the conventional concept of PUE based on energy has been redefined by the PUE based on exergy. The energy-based PUE is 1.03 and the exergy-based PUE is 0.95 in this case, which can truly reflect the useful energy flow, exergy, in the heat reclaim system.