Efficient energy input from renewable sources and energy management in the process industries (IA) (Processes4Planet and Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU partnerships)

Expected outcome

• A significant decarbonisation of processes (measured by the reduction of GHG emissions from the overall system) with broad applicability and economic viability.
• Facilitation of the transition from fossil-based energy inputs for:
  • low/medium thermal energy demands by introducing renewable-based alternatives and heat upgrading.
  • High-temperature processes, by innovative technologies for electrified and hybrid high-temperature processes, high temperature energy storage.
• Clean energy usage is given a boost through innovative advanced materials, system concepts and technologies for energy integration and energy storage, supporting resilience against energy supply variations
• Combination of significant energy savings and integrated management of energy systems and production processes

Scope

Most processes in the process industries require significant energy inputs which currently lead to substantial GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by the process industries. The reduction of the CO2 footprint can be achieved by several measures, e.g. electrification or use of other renewable sources of energy, lowering of the energy demand, increasing energy efficiency, and energy integration. This topic aims to lead to significant steps in reducing the CO2 footprint by technological innovations, at least by 20%.

A key problem in the use of renewable energy sources is their fluctuation over time. Projects should take this into account and develop solutions that aim for energy efficiency and include novel storage technologies of relevance to the process industries. Pure demand-side management by production schedules adapted to the supply of electricity from renewable sources is not within the scope of the call.

In situations where full electrification is not feasible or competitive in the foreseeable future, sustainable hybrid solutions play a crucial role. These solutions enhance flexibility, allowing industries to manage the variability in the availability of affordable renewable electricity, which is expected to fluctuate significantly in the medium term. E.g., preheating processes can utilize fossil-free energy sources such as solar heat, geothermal heat, heat pumps, resistive or induction heating, and electric boilers. This initial stage can be followed by further heating using fossil-based methods initially, and later transitioning to renewable-based combustion processes to achieve the required process temperatures.

To enhance resilience, the capture, storage, and management of energy flows should be tailored to the needs of the process industry. This may include research and innovation in safe and sustainable innovative advanced materials for (latent or sensible) energy storage, e.g. phase change materials and heat storage via chemical energy carriers beyond E-fuels.

Proposals under this topic should address several of the following:

• Advancements in the use of energy from renewable sources in production processes with improved energy efficiency.
• Integrated energy systems with novel storage elements to enable a smooth operation of the plants despite variations in the availability of energy from renewable sources.
• Solutions for low/medium temperature (100 - 500 °C) energy inputs in energy intensive industries including hybrid solutions and a progressive reduction of the use of fossil carriers of energy.
• Solutions for high temperature (> 500 °C) energy inputs in energy intensive industries, including high temperature electricity driven processes, and high temperature energy storage.
• Application of high-performance insulation materials and new innovative advanced materials that can improve heat capture, storage, and retrieval, particularly for scalable high-temperature applications. Such materials should minimize the use of critical raw material, enabling effective recycling.

Projects should include demonstrations at pilot scale, preferably in real industrial environments, to validate the proposed technologies and processes under real-world industrial conditions

Proposals related to innovative advanced materials development should address the most relevant gaps to focus on in the frame from materials design to technology deployment and ensure adequate feedback loops between different steps to drive forward innovative solutions which can be easily deployed. Scalability and requirements from application/industry need to be considered early on in the innovation process.

The inclusion of a GHG avoidance methodology is recommended and should provide detailed descriptions of baselines and projected emissions reduction.

Proposals should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination, underlining how the proposal will serve the purpose to boost industrial decarbonisation technologies supply chain in Europe. As project output an elaborated exploitation plan should be developed, including preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation and deployment (feasibility study, business plan and financial model) indicating possible private and public funding sources (e.g. Innovation Fund, InvestEU and cohesion policy funds). Societal- and environmental impact as well as implications for the workplace (including skills and organisational change) should be outlined.

This topic implements the co-programmed European partnerships Processes4Planet and Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU.