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TASIO

Waste Heat Recovery for Power Valorisation with Organic Rankine Cycle Technology in Energy Intensive Industries

Business Time Project Coordinator Funding Scheme
Industry Start date: 01/12/2014
End date: 30/11/2018
FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION H2020-EU.3.3.1.

 

Challenge

Nowadays a great number of industrial plants are dissipating huge amounts of heat in the environment in sectors like cement, glass, metals production and petrochemical, but it is possible to generate electricity by recovering the wasted heat through the so-called Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC).

In fact, an ORC is a closed thermodynamic cycle to convert heat into mechanical energy and eventually into electricity with a close circuit employing a working fluid different from water and metal (siloxanem hydrocarbons, etc.). 

TASIO has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 637189 in order to develop innovative Waste Heat Recovery Systems (WHRS) based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology, with Direct Heat Exchange (DHE). 

Traditional scheme of ORC includes a thermal oil loop between gas and organic fluid: there is a Waste Heat Recovery System, that is a heat exchanger fed by thermal oil without any phase change. Downstream, thermal oil feeds one or more heat exchangers in order to preheat, evaporate and potentially superheat organic fluid. All these heat exchangers are replaced with only one WHRS, where organic fluid is directly preheated and evapourated.

Moreover, TASIO Project Consortium has developed new anticorrosive and antiabrasive materials to be used in parts of the heat exchanger in contact with the flue gases and has designed a new integrated monitoring and control system.

Approach

In the framework of TASIO, RINA is responsible for the analysis of Replicability and Adaptability of the Developed Technology to Different Sectors in order to:

  • analyse the possibility of adaptating the developed system in other industrial sectors not covered in TASIO,
  • evaluate the replicability of the developed technology,
  • verify the cost reduction and the increase of the overall net efficiency of a WHRS with ORC technology thanks to the adoption of direct exchange solution.

Therefore, we applied the Life Cycle Assessment Methodology and made a Cost Volume Profit analysis in order to define the cost and expected profits of applying the developed technologies in the different industrial sectors studied along the project (steel, glass, cement) and the environmental impacts of TASIO innovative products. 

Finally, we are also in charge of the communication, dissemination and exploitation of the results achieved in the framework of the project.

Conclusion

In conclusion, developing a Direct Heat Exchange solution suitable for cross sectorial applications in Energy Intensive Industry allowed to reduce the overall costs while increasing efficiency, considered as the key factors to cut existing barriers for a significant penetration of the ORC technology in the industrial energy efficiency market.

In particular, TASIO has the following main benefits for the EU community:

  • increase the Energy Intensive Industry sustainability, reducing their consumption of electric energy, that is a “noble” energy source, implying also reducing primary energy consumption
  • avoid CO2 emissions; assuming an average emission factor per power generated in EU, every kWh of electricity generated by a ORC unit in a WHRS avoids 460 kg of CO2
  • become an interesting opportunity of industrial development, since European firms can develop the know how needed for the industrialization of these solution

Project consortium

1. FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION 2. TURBODEN SPA 3. RINA CONSULTING SPA 4. RINA CONSULTING - CENTRO SVILUPPO MATERIALI SPA 5. GEONARDO ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES LTD 6. SIDENOR ACEROS ESPECIALES SL 7. HOLCIM (ROMANIA) SA 8. Vidrala S.A. 9. INDUSTRIA CEMENTI GIOVANNI ROSSI SPA 

Roberta Manariti