On the 23rd of June FME – in collaboration with the ISPT – organized an Innovation Tuesday about the cost reduction of production and integration of industrial high temperature water pumps. The entire industrial energy chain was represented at the table from the end user companies like Shell and Dow, knowledge partners ECN and Post & Dekker, technology suppliers IBK, Bronswerk and Howden up to and including the industrial automation companies like VMB.
What was the question at hand?
The Netherlands has a strong energy-intensive industry that belongs to the world top. Important sectors are eg. chemistry, refining, base materials, building materials, paper and nutrition. This industry, that utilizes high temperature heat, is of great importance to the Dutch economy. At the same time this energy-intensive industry is responsible for 37% of the national use of energy and almost 25% of the total emission of CO2. This is why they will play an important role in the transition to a CO2 poor economy. In this process innovation is essential to increase the energy-efficiency within the industry and generates opportunities for new business for technological enterprises.
Kees Biesheuvel, innovation Manager at DOW Benelux about Innovation Tuesday (Dutch):
The majority of the current industrial energy use is its use for high temperature process heat. For example catalysis, drying or distillation of raw materials and semi-finished products. From these processes – after use – a lot of low temperature residual heat is produced that is currently cooled away or is simply discarded. ECN has calculated that in Rotterdam Europoort alone about 6 billion euros of residual heat is lost.
However this residual heat can be ‘upgraded and re-used’ by the use of high temperature heat-pumps that convert the residual heat into usable high temperature heat. This way heat isn’t lost and a lot of energy can be conserved.
What were the challenges?
The innovative heat-pump-technology is slowly starting to mature but for many energy users this technology is still too expensive to apply on a large scale. There have been several pilots however.
With the knowledge and experience in the Dutch maker-industry it should be possible to drasticly lower the costs of high temperature heat-pumps which would make large scale application of the technology possible and at the same time create a whole new type of industry in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands could become a leading authority in the production of innovative industrial heat-pump-technology! Both nationally and internationally there is an enormous possible market for this promising technology.
To achieve this position the production- and integration costs of and industrial sized head-pump need to be cut by at least 50%. Within the research project CRUISE together with the end-users conditions and system parameters have been defined.
This challenge has been picked up by the participants of Innovation Tuesday, and with success.
Sjaak Remmerswaal, CEO of Bronswerk Heat Transfer (Dutch):
The most important conclusions and follow-up steps were:
- Focus on the segment where, with a relatively limited heat transfer, the highest efficiency can be achieved.
- Opt for the upscaling of one specific industrial group to be able to quickly translate the educational effects to a reduction in costs.
- Develop a sales & production configurator that can quickly translate customer demands to specifications for the heat-pump for a smart product configuration.
- Start making steps now to start a Smart Factory for industrial water-pumps in the Netherlands
FME and ISPT will take charge in taking follow up steps and actions
Acknowledgement
This project is co-funded with subsidy from the Topsector Energy by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.