Industrial Energy and Environment Efficiency

Project Information

Indus3Es

Grant agreement ID: 680738

DOI

10.3030/680738

Project closed

EC signature date 31 July 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 30 April 2020

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 3 858 500,00

EU contribution

€ 3 858 500,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Indus3Es (Industrial Energy and Environment Efficiency)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2020-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Large quantities of waste heat are continuously rejected from industries. Most of this waste energy, however, is of low-quality and is not practical or economical to recover it with current technologies. The objective of the Indus3Es project is the development and demonstration of an innovative, adaptable, compact and economically competitive system based on Absorption Heat Transformer (AHT) technology for recovering and revaluing low-temperature waste heat from industrial processes. The developed Indus3Es System will use low temperature waste heat (below 130º) in order to obtain usable heat source at higher temperature that will be easily adapted into various industrial process and sources.

Industrial Heat Transformer installations have complex specifications due to their operating conditions. There are different ways of heat integration and different sources and levels of waste heat. Therefore the technology requires an ad-hoc set up for the type of process condition and process equipment in each case but the project aims to find a viable and scalable technology solution. Tüpraş, Repsol and Fertinagro are the end-users and direct beneficiaries of the developed Indus3Es system but replicability in other industrial processes, mainly in SPIRE sectors, will be studied as well. Moreover, the developed system will be demonstrated in real industrial process in TÜPRAŞ, a petrochemical refinery in Turkey, enabling to analyse besides integration aspects, operational and business issues of Indus3Es System.

The design of the technology will be shared by Tecnalia, Technion and TUBerlin. Their capability in absorption technologies and research experience is an important asset of this consortium. From the production, installation and engineering side there are other experienced partners as well. In one hand BSNova, manufacturer of heat exchangers and absorption equipment. On the other Aiguasol with experience in engineering and installations and Circe that as research center will collaborate in different tasks related to market research and adequacy of the system to other SPIRE industrial sectors. Finally the collaboration of PNO in the dissemination, communication and exploitation tasks helped by Ciaotech.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The Project selected a demo case for the Izmit Petro-plant of Tüpras and in the covered period a step by step process has been implemented to check different type of innovations so that the solution offered to the end-user is effective, highly efficient and at the same time robust and reliable. The step by step process started by operating two 10 lab scale units: one for low pressure vessels in Tecnalia and one for high pressure vessels in Technion. Measurements and testing provided interesting insights to compare to the first 50kW breadboard that was an adaptation of a chiller unit in reverse mode. With obtained information the consortium decided to build four different vessels (two high pressure and two low pressure) with different elements tested in the previous phase. The result is a 50kW breadboard with four different configurations Testing of each configuration provided important information as to decide what was the best option in terms of efficiency but also in terms of reliability. The final decision for the 200kW demo site was taken with the participation of not only designers but also end-users, installer and manufacturer of the unit. Considering all stakeholders in the value chain. Currently the 200kW unit is under construction.

Together with the 200kW unit, an innovative motorless purge system has been designed for removal of non condensables. The Project also developed a control system for the unit that is unique compared to the State of the Art and that it will be tested in the demo as well. Coatings have been analyzed and there are some promising results. And adiabatic absorption in two operation modes will be operated in the absorber.

Other work has been developed related to the analysis of the market: Suitable industrial processes for the AHT, industries of interest, competition at technology and market level, etc. Also work on the determination of business models and possible exploitation of results has been carried out. The consortium has participated in many events, congresses, workshops, ... to communicate and present the work of the Project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The contribution of the Indus3Es project to progress beyond the state-of-the-art is related to improve operational behaviour as well as cost competitiveness of the AHT by introducing innovative ideas to the main design (heat exchangers), auxiliary equipment (e.g. purge system), and control. There are few systems in operation that demonstrate the technical feasibility of the system and almost no manufacturers offering AHT as standard product. Improvements in the system are needed to make it competitive taking advantage of latest advances from absorption chillers for instance.
Implemented main innovations have been:
• The implementation of two adiabatic absorption operation modes:
Atomizing spray nozzles and a drip distribution system in which the liquid solution in the tray is exposed to the vapor – promoting adiabatic absorption. For demonstration and research purposes, the atomizing spray mode can be toggled on or off. Measurements from the Lab- and Breadboard-Scale high-pressure vessels have demonstrated that these modes perform as intended by increasing the maximum obtainable temperature within the absorber.
• Innovative motor-less non-condensable gases purge system:
Presence of non-condensable (NC) gases critically reduces the absorption process which is critical for the AHT. The innovative system for removal of NCs developed in Indus3Es continuously gathers and traps NCs in a dedicated vessel, which are then periodically and automatically exhausted to the environment. This solution is simple, inexpensive, and efficient, compared to other known options. The system has been patented.
• Indus3Es AHT behaviour automatic control:
The control system has been designed considering especially the “Characteristic Equation Method” approach. Apart from the desirable performance automatic adjustment procedures, an attention to anti-crystallization procedure has been considered, which is potentially riskier for AHTs, compared to absorption chillers. By the end of the project, a tested control system will have been installed and operated for several months. This will demonstrate the successful integration and automation of the technology and its innovations in a real industrial application.

Main scheme of the Indus3Es project