Project description
Sustainable heat solutions for industry
Reaching net zero by 2050 requires reducing emissions from industry, which relies heavily on low-temperature heat. While heat pumps are one solution, they increase electricity demand. Power companies warn that the grid cannot keep up with the rising demand, risking supply shortages in the future. This makes finding alternatives to electricity-powered solutions critical. With this in mind, the EU-funded ZIMBA project is addressing this challenge with a new absorption heat transformer. This system uses industrial waste heat to generate heat at 110 °C with minimal electricity, thanks to innovative water-ammonia technology. The project plans to scale the design to 500 kWth using recyclable materials and simple components. ZIMBA offers a sustainable way to decarbonise industry while easing pressure on electricity grids.
Objective
Decarbonizing industry is the key challenge for 2050 to achieve the Net Zero ambitions. For this, one of the current pathways is the massive electrification of industrial processes in demand for low-temperature heat (up to 150°C) thanks to heat pumps. However, the electricity distribution companies have recently issued an alert: the grid development is insufficient to match the enormous future needs for electricity. In the coming decades, this will thus trigger tensions on the power grid and lead to priorization in the supply of electricity. Therefore, to alleviate electricity demand while meeting industrial needs, it is crucial to provide alternative technology, such as Absorption Heat Transformer (AHT), which has the potential to meet the demand for low temperature heat, from non critical and abundant energy sources such as industrial waste heat, with hardly any electrical use.
With this objective of offering another option than vapor compression heat pumps, the ZIMBA project aims to develop and validate at TRL4, an innovative AHT system at 15 kWth and 110°C. It will be based on a novel water ammonia AHT technology improved by a two-phase ejector specifically designed in order to stabilize its performance and widen the range of its operating conditions, in particular under hot conditions.
From the physical evaluation results obtained, scaling studies up to 500 kWth will be carried out by the consortium, composed of researchers and industrial manufacturers, in order to push for a design with practically no critical raw materials, easily maintainable and recyclable, and with only commercially available components for fast time to market. The integration of the system in the potential future energy market and the associated business models will be studied in order to ensure a circularity of the energy and to fully exploit the exergy of the heat losses.
Thus, ZIMBA will help the EU in reducing its dependence on fossil and electricity, while meeting climate goals.
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.5.2 - Energy Supply
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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-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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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-CL5-2023-D3-02
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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.
75015 Paris
France
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.