Repsol, CIRCE, Fertinagro, Aiguasol and Tecnalia participate in the European INDUS3ES project to improve up to 25% the efficiency of high energy consumption industries
INDUS3ES is an R&D initiative funded by the European Commission that is developing an innovative system to recover and take advantage of waste heat from industrial processes, normally without any useful use, thus allowing industries to improve their efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability.
The project has a budget of 3.86 million euros granted in the Horizon2020 program, and the participation of 10 entities from several European countries. On the part of Spain, AIGUASOL, detail engineering, REPSOL and FERTINAGRO participate as demonstrating partners, TECNALIA, designer, as well as project coordinator, and CIRCE, who will be in charge of the market analysis of the solution developed, as well as of the studies on the performance of the processes, analyzing the improvement from a thermodynamic point of view, and the industrial level replication.
Currently, industries with large energy consumption generate large amounts of low-temperature waste heat that are largely rejected, as they are low quality energy. In addition, its recovery using current technologies is an important economic investment.
INDUS3ES intends to overcome these barriers by providing a new solution that will improve, not only the competitiveness of these companies, but also move towards the decarbonization of European industry. To do this, it will develop a ‘heat transformer’, an absorption technology that allows the recovery and revaluation of low temperature residual energy (between 70 and 110ºC), being able to be, part of it, returned to the process at a higher temperature (between 120 and 150ºC ). This resulting energy flow can be used in other processes without any additional fuel costs, which will result in a substantial improvement in energy efficiency, which can reach up to 25%.
The studies carried out by the project reveal that, thanks to this cost savings, the industries that integrate the INDUS3ES solution will recover the investment in a period of between 2 and 4 years depending on the process, their production capacity and fuels used Project partners are putting special emphasis on getting a solution available for the market, which is easily adaptable to various processes and industrial sectors. The system will be demonstrated in a petrochemical industry (TÜPRAS, Turkey), allowing to analyze, in addition to the details of the integration, aspects related to the business model and its operation. In parallel, the application and integration of the heat transformer in the industrial processes of REPSOL and FERTINAGRO will be evaluated
In addition to reducing energy consumption, the environmental impact of this new prototype will also be studied, as well as its production and maintenance costs, which opens the door to an increase in the global competitiveness of European products.
In the social aspect, studies will also be carried out on the acceptance in the market of the new technology, and the impact that could be generated in terms of employment the start-up of production of solutions of this type, since it is expected that energy efficiency help stimulate a more sustainable economy in Europe.
More information about the project at: http://www.indus3es.eu/