Joining forces yields more power
Creating industrial clusters of facilities in compatible fields is an excellent way to promote networking and innovation. The EU-funded project 'The KTH cluster of research infrastructures in sustainable thermal power generation' (Suspower) links together three separate world-class facilities in three different fields. These fields are innovative combustion, gasification and gas turbine technology, which work together to promote the production of alternative and sustainable power. Suspower offered researchers 510 research days in these neighbouring facilities which were clustered together, furthering research on combustion processes, gasification, biofuels and related processes. Numerous experiments took place across the facilities covering different aspects of thermal energy. To illustrate, experiments at the facility for high temperature air and stem combustion and gasification (HTAC/G) showed significant potential for the future of refuse-derived fuels and biomass. The same facility also studied air feeding for stoker-fired combustion and enabled testing for new combustion catalysts, a development which led to the registration of two new patents. Overall, the cluster attracted researchers and partners from 15 countries. The researchers worked on 26 different projects under the cluster, encouraging female participation in order to bridge the gender gap. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that Suspower participated in a project on greenhouse gas (GHG) management and sought funding from the European Commission to further this objective. The project achieved many other advances in the field which have helped the research community across Europe get closer to more sustainable technologies with respect to thermal power generation.
