Project description
Creating a novel circular economy for thermal energy storage
Europe’s industrial sector generates up to 30 % of heat-related CO2 emissions, with the European industrial thermal processes requiring around 20 % of the European energy demand. Currently, energy-intensive industries make use of waste heat recovery technologies. However, they have grown inefficient. Thermal energy storage (TES) is a technology likely to replace them, utilising phase change materials (PCM) to absorb and release medium-to-high heat. The EU-funded REDTHERM project aims to utilise these findings and Red mud, a hazardous waste material of the aluminium industry, to develop a novel thermal energy storage layout technology. REDTHERM aims to vastly improve recycling but also to contribute to the creation of a circular economy.
Objective
As per an EU estimate, the industrial sector accounts for 27% of the overall energy consumption and for the generation of 30% heat-related CO2 emissions. Industrial thermal processes account for 70 % of the energy demand, which translates to 20.8% of the entire EU energy demand. Waste heat recovery (WHR) is, thus, one of the next frontiers for energy-intensive industries. Thermal energy storage (TES) is a promising alternative to currently available WHR technologies, particularly for medium-high temperature settings. Latent heat storage, centred on the ability of a material, commonly referred to as the phase change material (PCM), to absorb/release heat isothermally during its transition from one state to another, faces several performance issues inherent to the material’s properties. Encapsulating PCMs in solid matrices, consisting of refractory materials, has been found to resolve most of these issues. These new materials can be used to store both sensible and latent heat (hybrid TES) potentially outperforming current TES systems. The properties of red mud (RM), a currently disregarded and potentially hazardous waste of the aluminium industry, make it an ideal candidate for PCM encapsulation. REDTHERM aims to scale up the recently discovered, by the researcher, red mud-molten salt material and demonstrate, for the first time, its performance in a novel medium-high temperature WHR layout using real industrial settings. In this way it can promote a novel and tangible business case of industrial symbiosis (circular economy) in which the waste product of the aluminium industry (RM) is valorised as a key component for medium-high temperature WHR systems to increase energy efficiency and decrease the carbon footprint of foundation industries with relevant interest (steel, cement, casting etc. This timely project can substantially contribute towards the EU’s 2050 sustainability agenda, while in parallel expanding the science of the promising field of hybrid-TES.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry post-transition metals
- natural sciences biological sciences biological behavioural sciences ethology biological interactions
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
546 36 THESSALONIKI
Greece
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.