VULKANO - Lead the revolution towards more efficient furnaces

DESCRIPTION
The retrofitting solutions will be tested in two real facilities in Ceramic (Spain) and Steel (Slovenia) sector, validating the replicability of such solutions in a third sector (Aluminium-Turkey).
OBJETIVES
Specific objectives of the project:
- Increasing overall efficiency in 20% of two of the main types of furnaces
- At least a direct 27% of fuel saving, with a direct effect on pollutant emissions
- A 15 – 40% of reduction in fossil fuel consumption of natural gas by its substitution by an alternative fuel
- Development of a comprehensive optimization methodology applicable to pre-heating and melting furnaces
- To establish the basis for the market uptake of VULKANO tool through a strategic and business-oriented commercialization plan.
CIRCE´s ROLE
On the technical side, CIRCE will lead some of the main tasks such as the designing and validation of the Phase Change Materials (PCM) to recover waste heat energy from the industrial furnaces; as well as the development and implementation of the Holistic In-House Predictive Tool to address and optimize the process design and its energy and environmental performance.
Among other activities CIRCE will also take part in the establishment of guidelines for the integration of the research results into the pilot demonstrators, and in the development of the business and exploitation plans.