Lamm-Honigmann process

[2] Both inventors envisioned and realized the same process principle for usage as energy storage in so-called Fireless locomotive but with different working fluid pairs: Emile Lamm used ammonia and water, Moritz Honigmann used water and caustic soda.

Compared to conventional fire-less locomotives (that usually work with reservoirs of pure pressurized water or air) the advantage of the process proposed by Lamm and Honigmann is that the loss in pressure ratio during discharging of the storage is smaller, and therefore theoretically a larger storage density can be achieved.

This pressure potential is used in the Lamm-Honigmann process to expand the working fluid, e.g. water vapor, in an expansion device and generate mechanical or subsequently electrical energy.

The charging process consists of re-concentrating the working fluid mixture by means of heat[3][4] or mechanical energy.

A compression device brings the working fluid that is desorbed out of the mixture to a larger pressure level, where it is condensed.