Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RE-WITCH (Renewable and Waste heat valorisation in Industries via Technologies for Cooling production and energy Harvesting)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-06-30
The RE-WITCH project aims to demonstrate innovative industrial cooling solutions that can be driven by low-grade heat, provided either by onsite renewables or from waste heat sources. Three different innovative technologies are under optimization in the framework of the project. It features an adsorption chiller unit with a new patented design that lowers costs and makes the technology simpler; a hybrid absorption heat pump that uses a water vapor compressor to provide both cooling and heating, meeting two different needs in the industrial process with one system; and a double-temperature absorption chiller that is designed to provide cooling at two different temperature levels. Moreover, the system will integrate innovative high-vacuum solar thermal collectors, able to achieve a high energy conversion efficiency even in low direct irradiance weather conditions.
The activity will be based on a first phase, during which the technologies will be properly adapted by means of a specific innovative design, targeting the optimization of energy efficiency as well as the compactness and cost reduction of the proposed solutions. This phase will also be supported by the implementation of a numerical model platform, able to simulate the optimal techno-economic integration of the RE-WITCH technologies inside different industrial processes.
In the subsequent phase, existing lab-scale testing rigs will conduct controlled tests on the developed technologies. This will enable us to assess the performance maps and furnish the manufacturers with feedback for a final design review.
Finally, we will implement the innovative RE-WITCH technologies in four different demo sites. The demo sites will encompass a diverse range of industrial processes, including brewing, food processing, biofuels, and paper processing. The design of the demo integration will be based on the BIM approach, also integrating digital twins of all the demo sites. The project will also incorporate a cloud platform for the proper integration of monitoring and control systems. We will then monitor the installed technologies to assess the benefits of the proposed systems, encompassing energetic, economic, and environmental aspects. These findings will be complemented by a replication analysis to analyze the applicability of the solutions to other industrial processes, including district heating-connected industrial parks.
By the end of the project, we expect to reach the following main objectives at the technologies level:
- Demonstration of adsorption chiller being able to be driven by heat down to 70°C, with thermal COP up to 0.65 and electric COP up to 20. We aim to keep the CAPEX below 600 €/kW.
- Demonstration of hybrid absorption heat pump with thermal cooling COP up to 0.68 and heating COP up to 1.75. Electric cooling COP of 9 and heating COP of 23. CAPEX of 280 €/kW.
- Demonstration of a dual-cooling temperature absorption chiller with a thermal cooling COP of 0.7 a seasonal EER of 25, and a CAPEX of 350 €/kW.
The activity will be based on a first phase, during which the technologies will be properly adapted by means of a specific innovative design, targeting the optimization of energy efficiency as well as the compactness and cost reduction of the proposed solutions. This phase will also be supported by the implementation of a numerical model platform, able to simulate the optimal techno-economic integration of the RE-WITCH technologies inside different industrial processes.
In the subsequent phase, existing lab-scale testing rigs will conduct controlled tests on the developed technologies. This will enable us to assess the performance maps and furnish the manufacturers with feedback for a final design review.
Finally, we will implement the innovative RE-WITCH technologies in four different demo sites. The demo sites will encompass a diverse range of industrial processes, including brewing, food processing, biofuels, and paper processing. The design of the demo integration will be based on the BIM approach, also integrating digital twins of all the demo sites. The project will also incorporate a cloud platform for the proper integration of monitoring and control systems. We will then monitor the installed technologies to assess the benefits of the proposed systems, encompassing energetic, economic, and environmental aspects. These findings will be complemented by a replication analysis to analyze the applicability of the solutions to other industrial processes, including district heating-connected industrial parks.
By the end of the project, we expect to reach the following main objectives at the technologies level:
- Demonstration of adsorption chiller being able to be driven by heat down to 70°C, with thermal COP up to 0.65 and electric COP up to 20. We aim to keep the CAPEX below 600 €/kW.
- Demonstration of hybrid absorption heat pump with thermal cooling COP up to 0.68 and heating COP up to 1.75. Electric cooling COP of 9 and heating COP of 23. CAPEX of 280 €/kW.
- Demonstration of a dual-cooling temperature absorption chiller with a thermal cooling COP of 0.7 a seasonal EER of 25, and a CAPEX of 350 €/kW.
Analysis of relevant industrial processes that can be interested by future RE-WITCH technologies integration for cooling and heating. Definition of generic system integration approaches, by preparation of P&IDs highlighting the main components necessary for the proper operation of the innovative technologies inside the industrial plant. Definition of a set of KPIs to be used along the project for the definition of the technologies and systems performance.
Definition of a common simulation platform, integrating different tools dedicated to energetic simulations, exergo-economic optimization, and thermal energy storage optimal integration. The platform has been used to preliminarily simulate some of the demo sites. The developed platform will then be used in the following phases of the project to analyze the replicability of the RE-WITCH solutions. Integration of the RE-WITCH technologies in a district heating network (DHN) digital twin library to study the interaction between DHN and industrial processes through RE-WITCH technologies.
Numerical modelling, components, and system design of the three innovative core cooling technologies of RE-WITCH. These activities integrated detailed numerical modelling, necessary to investigate the most effective design configurations of the technologies, along with an experimental campaign in the lab to evaluate innovative materials and components to be integrated in the final configurations. The results of the activities allowed the delivery of the first design of the three technologies to be further refined before the manufacturing of the first prototypes to be tested in the labs.
Collection of information from the four demo sites to identify the current conditions and define the baseline for the system integration. This activity was supported both by offline questionnaires and by onsite visits to further refine the collected data. This allowed the creation of components inventories and the first version of the digital twins of the demo sites, representing the current configuration. Based on this analysis, the next steps will be the optimal integration of the RE-WITCH technologies in each demo site. At the same time, the first analysis for the definition of a monitoring platform in each demo site was carried out, aiming at the deployment of both hardware and monitoring tools to start the monitoring supporting the definition of the current baseline in each demo.
Definition of a common simulation platform, integrating different tools dedicated to energetic simulations, exergo-economic optimization, and thermal energy storage optimal integration. The platform has been used to preliminarily simulate some of the demo sites. The developed platform will then be used in the following phases of the project to analyze the replicability of the RE-WITCH solutions. Integration of the RE-WITCH technologies in a district heating network (DHN) digital twin library to study the interaction between DHN and industrial processes through RE-WITCH technologies.
Numerical modelling, components, and system design of the three innovative core cooling technologies of RE-WITCH. These activities integrated detailed numerical modelling, necessary to investigate the most effective design configurations of the technologies, along with an experimental campaign in the lab to evaluate innovative materials and components to be integrated in the final configurations. The results of the activities allowed the delivery of the first design of the three technologies to be further refined before the manufacturing of the first prototypes to be tested in the labs.
Collection of information from the four demo sites to identify the current conditions and define the baseline for the system integration. This activity was supported both by offline questionnaires and by onsite visits to further refine the collected data. This allowed the creation of components inventories and the first version of the digital twins of the demo sites, representing the current configuration. Based on this analysis, the next steps will be the optimal integration of the RE-WITCH technologies in each demo site. At the same time, the first analysis for the definition of a monitoring platform in each demo site was carried out, aiming at the deployment of both hardware and monitoring tools to start the monitoring supporting the definition of the current baseline in each demo.
The main innovation beyond the SoA of the RE-WITCH technologies can be summarized as follows:
- Innovative adsorption chiller, characterized by a lower capital cost thanks to the reduced number of components and the absence of large and expensive vacuum valves. The technology exhibits greater compactness and reliability in comparison to the SoA.
- Hybrid absorption heat pump that includes the water vapor compressor directly in the refrigerant circuit, making the technology more adaptable and achieving the best efficiency possible. The ability to adjust the electric-to-heat driving ratio, based on the availability of heat and electricity, provides significant operational flexibility.
- Dual evaporation temperature absorption chiller, representing the first sorption-based chiller able to deliver two different cooling temperatures with a single chiller unit. The design will aim to increase the overall cooling power density in order to increase the system's compactness.
- The integration of the RE-WITCH solutions in industrial processes aims at achieving an optimized techno-economic design of the overall system by properly exploiting both waste and renewable heat sources to make the solutions competitive for future market uptake.
- The RE-WITCH technologies will be suitable for a large variety of industrial plants, also covering non-standard cooling processes such as pulp and paper and bio-refineries.
- Innovative adsorption chiller, characterized by a lower capital cost thanks to the reduced number of components and the absence of large and expensive vacuum valves. The technology exhibits greater compactness and reliability in comparison to the SoA.
- Hybrid absorption heat pump that includes the water vapor compressor directly in the refrigerant circuit, making the technology more adaptable and achieving the best efficiency possible. The ability to adjust the electric-to-heat driving ratio, based on the availability of heat and electricity, provides significant operational flexibility.
- Dual evaporation temperature absorption chiller, representing the first sorption-based chiller able to deliver two different cooling temperatures with a single chiller unit. The design will aim to increase the overall cooling power density in order to increase the system's compactness.
- The integration of the RE-WITCH solutions in industrial processes aims at achieving an optimized techno-economic design of the overall system by properly exploiting both waste and renewable heat sources to make the solutions competitive for future market uptake.
- The RE-WITCH technologies will be suitable for a large variety of industrial plants, also covering non-standard cooling processes such as pulp and paper and bio-refineries.