Data centers are the backbone of the modern internet.
They store photos, stream movies, power cloud services, and train artificial intelligence systems.
But these warehouse-sized buildings also consume enormous amounts of electricity.
A large portion of that energy is not used to run computers at all—it is used to cool them.
Inside a data center, thousands of servers generate heat as they process information. To keep the machines working safely, powerful cooling systems constantly remove that heat.
Today, most facilities rely on energy-intensive machines called compression chillers.
As the demand for artificial intelligence and digital services grows, the electricity needed for cooling data centers is rising rapidly.
Researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering believe there may be a more efficient solution.
In a new study published on the preprint server ChemRxiv, they explored a system that uses industrial waste heat and special minerals called zeolites to cool data centers while dramatically reducing electricity use.
The idea is based on a type of “thermal battery.” Zeolites are natural or synthetic crystalline minerals filled with tiny microscopic pores.
These pores allow the material to absorb water vapor very easily. When dry zeolite comes into contact with water vapor, it traps the vapor and releases heat. When the material is heated again, the water is released and the cycle can start over.
In the proposed system, waste heat from nearby industrial facilities—such as refineries or chemical plants—is used to “charge” the thermal battery. The heat dries the zeolite by driving off the water stored in its pores. Once dried, the zeolite can be transported by truck or train to a nearby data center.
At the data center, the process works in reverse. Warm air or cooling water from the server room causes water to evaporate. The dried zeolite absorbs the vapor, and this process produces a cooling effect that helps remove heat from the servers. In effect, the zeolite acts as a heat sink, replacing the electricity-hungry chillers used today.
One advantage of zeolite thermal batteries is that they can store energy for long periods without losing it. The stored thermal energy remains locked inside the material until water vapor is added again. This makes the material suitable for transporting energy over tens of kilometers from industrial sites to data centers.
Using detailed computer models, the researchers compared their proposed system with conventional cooling setups. Their results suggest that combining industrial waste heat with zeolite thermal batteries could cut electricity used for cooling data centers by as much as 86 percent. When considering both the data center and the industrial facility, total electricity use could fall by more than 75 percent.
The system does require somewhat more water—about 15 to 25 percent more—because evaporation is central to the cooling process. However, industrial facilities could reduce their own water consumption since less heat would need to be released through cooling towers.
The concept is still in the early stages, and engineers must solve several practical challenges before it can be widely used. Even so, the research highlights an important idea: waste heat, which is usually thrown away, could become a valuable resource for cooling the digital infrastructure that powers modern life.
