Challenge & Objectives
Application of Solar Thermal Energy to Processes (ASTEP) will create a new innovative Solar Heating for Industrial Processes (SHIP) concept focused on overcoming the current limitations of these systems. This solution is based on modular and flexible integration of two innovative designs for the solar collector (SunDial) and the Thermal Energy Storage (TES, based on Phase Change Materials, PCM) integrated via a control system which will allow flexible operation to maintain continuous service against the unpredictable nature of the solar source and partially during night operation. ASTEP will demonstrate its capability to cover a substantial part of the heat demand of the process industry at temperatures above 150 ºC and for latitudes where current designs are not able to supply it. Its modularity and compactness will also enable easy installation and repair with reduced space requirements, while most of components can be sourced locally.
The ASTEP's process integration will allow full compatibility with the existing systems of potential end-users of SHIP. These aspects will provide a very competitive solution to substitute fossil fuel consumption. The developed solar concept will be tested at two industrial sites to prove the objective’s target of TRL5. Life Cycle Analysis will be included to validate and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed technologies. The first Industrial Site of the proposal is the world’s leading steel company, ArcelorMittal, with a heating demand above 220 ºC for a factory located at a latitude of 47.1 N (Iasi, Romania). The second site is the dairy company Mandrekas, located at a latitude of 37.93 N (Corinth, Greece) with a heating demand for steam at 175 ºC and a cooling demand at 5 ºC. These test locations will validate the ASTEP solution for a substantial part of the potential requirements of industrial heating and cooling demand of the European Union, which is estimated at approximately 72 TWh per year.
In ASTEP, eBOS vision is to advance knowledge and reinforce understanding of industrial technologies, thus extending the company’s R&D activities. eBOS will develop an innovative dashboard which will allow collecting data from the various sensors and IoT gateways deployed at the testing sites and displaying data in an interactive and user-friendly format. The dashboard, supported by strong big data analytics mechanisms, will enable the comparative assessment of the measurements performed against the expected key performance indicators, using the latest state-of the-art web technologies, thus supporting the project partners to validate the ASTEP concept and methodology. The advanced intelligence dashboard developed by EBOS will be used for both understanding of the environment and for post data analytical purposes to assist in the validation exercises which is a very important objective.
Morover, eBOS will:
Support the Quality and Risk management activities of the project, as well as the task dedicated to Data and Ethical management, planning and assessment;
Participate in the organisation of focus groups and co-creative workshops in order to involve the relevant stakeholders and contribute to the elaboration of a strategy to improve social acceptance of the developed technologies;
Engage in the communication and dissemination activities, in particular via the virtual cluster/community (Helix), called the Solar Energy Helix on the Crowdhelix platform that will act as the backbone of the project’s dissemination and exploitation strategies;
Contribute to the development of the joint IP exploitation plan in collaboration with other project partners.
Consortium
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL EDUCACION A DISTANCIA
DYNAMIC & SECURITY COMPUTATIONS SL
VERTECH GROUP
UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE CARTAGENA
DAVID REAY ASSOCIATES, UNITED KINGDOM
EBOS TECHNOLOGIES LTD
BRUNEL UNIVERSITY LONDON
CROWDHELIX LIMITED
PRODUCTION TRADE AND SUPPORT OF MACHINABLE PRODUCTS OF SOFTWARE AND INFORMATICS – RELATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID
ARCELOR MITTAL TUBULAR PRODUCTS IASI
CENTRE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES & SAVING
POLITECHNIKA WROCŁAWSKA
IRIS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DELLA CAMPANIA
MANDREKAS DAIRY
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 884411.
