Final Report Summary - AIRTV (Testing network for verification of air emissions abatement technologies)
The project AIRTV was funded by the EC within the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) addressing requirements and protocols for verification of air emission abatement technologies.
Environmental pollution and climate change are emerging as a major challenge for European and global society. Therefore, the European Union has the ambitious plan to reduce emissions in the community significantly, to improve environment and well being of inhabitants. To realise these objectives the development and wider use of innovative environmental- friendly technologies must be promoted. Thus, our environment will be improved, new technology fields will be opened up and novel business opportunities will be created - eco-innovation could become a driver for future growth.
However, new technologies are affected by a lack of proven information on their performance under real field conditions. Due to perceived risks it is difficult for their manufactures to convince first customers, to secure sources of finance essential to fund industrial developments and sometimes it delays necessary authorisations to place the technologies on the market.
One way to overcome the handicap and to speed up the implementation of new environmentally sound technologies could be reliable technology verification by qualified third parties using recognised procedures - environmental technology cerification (ETV). At the moment, the European Commission is considering to propose the establishment of such a system at EU level to offer a wide recognition both within Europe and globally, to make it unnecessary to repeat verification in every country where the technology is sold and to be used as valid input in national-type approval or certification procedures.
AIRTV was successfully investigating potential procedures for the verification of air emissions abatement technologies and provided:
- a verification procedure for air emissions abatement technologies including a generic protocol and nine specific protocols;
- nine reference reports on verified technologies;
- recommendations for a European ETV system in the field of air emissions abatement technologies, based on communications with stakeholders and the nine test cases;
- a CEN workshop agreement as guidance document for verification of air emission abatement technologies.
Additionally, AIRTV considered specially SMEs during the development of the project both as suppliers of technologies and test sites for technology verification as well as by means of a SME-focused dissemination strategy.
The verification process as proposed from the AIRTV project has been developed to be slim-lined for efficiency while still ensuring quality of the output. It is anticipated to be vendor driven, i.e. the vendor of a product takes the initiative.
In the first stage, the vendor who wants a technology to be tested, contacts either a verification body or a national contact point. At this stage a 'quick-check' is done in order to check if the product is suitable for verification and what kind of data is available and might be used for the verification.
If the product is suitable and the vendor decides to go for verification, a contract is set up. In the next step a protocol is developed, where the parameters to be tested are defined in order to give sufficient information for customers. If there is an existing protocol for comparable products, this will be used and adapted. If the existing data are sufficient, they will be used together with the protocol to produce the verification report. If the available data are not sufficient, a test plan is developed with expertise from technology and measurement experts.
At this point the test location is chosen in agreement between the verification manager, the experts and the vendor as the test location is needed to write an appropriate test plan. With the test plan and test location the vendor asks different (ETV recognised) test labs for offers. The verification manager and / or experts assess the quality of the offers. The vendor can choose a test lab from the labs with complying offers. In the next stage, the product is tested in order to generate the missing data for verification, i.e. the amount of testing depends on the availability of suitable data that have been produced earlier.
The verification manager is an organisation that manages the verification process from the quick-check to the final verification report. This organisation is responsible for performing the verification. During verification, external experts are needed in order to set up a relevant set of parameters for the technology to be verified. Also, they assure the claim to be realistic and verifiable, i.e. both technology and measurement experts are needed. When testing is needed, a test laboratory performs the tests according to the test plan and reports the test results. In the final stage of the verification, the EU ETV body approves the verification report and provides the logo. The EU ETV body is also responsible for the overall management and quality assurance of the verification in Europe and for co-ordination internationally.
Within the project, a generic protocol has been developed. The generic protocol serves as a template for the specific protocol to be produced for new technologies or new applications. Each specific protocol is derived in the protocol development procedure, making use of existing protocols and the generic protocol, in which it is described what information is needed under specific headlines.
The project including the performed case studies showed that the proposed verification scheme is an option for an EU ETV system.
It was possible to use only one generic protocol as template including instructions how to fill in for all cases, which probably also is possible when different technology areas are addressed. The protocol procedure is necessary, probably also, in a simplified form, if protocols are available from similar technologies. In order to avoid mistakes in protocols and test plans, the early involvement of technology and measurement experts (e.g. from the testing laboratory) is necessary.
During verification a number of documents is produced. The structure of the document is developed to avoid double work, but some further evaluation can make simplified documents to make the verification more efficient. When taking verification into account during product development, testing results can be used for future verification, reducing the total costs. Thus, clear criteria for usage of existing data are needed. The effort for checking existing data has to be compared to the effort for measuring new data.
Access to the European and international market is an important argument for ETV. ETV should provide a shortcut for successful technologies to be regarded as 'best available technology' BAT.
Costs for verification depend on the complexity of the product. Although the verification scheme can be designed to work efficiently, especially for SME additional funding might be needed in order to provide verification at acceptable costs. There are often national and possible EU-funding schemes that could be used for that purpose.
To allow immediate use of results, the AIRTV team decided to develop a CEN workshop agreement in parallel with the development of the core procedures for the European ETV scheme. This CWA will then bridge the gap between the end of the AIRTV project and the implementation of a European ETV system. The CEN workshop procedure, resulting in a CEN workshop agreement is a tool to elaborate a common agreement on specific procedures. For AIRTV, this consensus comprises the establishment of a generic system that gives systematic and documented proof of a technology as being sound in terms of its claims of operation and the environment. So the CWA provides a procedure to prove the performance of a product and not, for example, certify the conformity with certain standards or norms. In other words, the role of this CWA is to prove performance, rather than certify a product under a formal product certification scheme.
The main advantage of the CWA is its characteristic of having a streamlined process for development. However, the process is still fair and transparent, cost-efficient and fast. The CWA 42 ETV - Air emission abatement technologies (ETV-AEA) was developed in just 17 months.
CWA 42 provides a guideline for the verification of air emission abatement technologies. It specifies a verification process and reporting structure for a verified vendor claim for the performance of a specific air emission abatement technology. The technology can comprise hardware (devices, apparatus and tools), software (e. g. for process control and improvement) and physical, chemical and biotechnological processes with their adaptation to site-specific conditions.
Environmental pollution and climate change are emerging as a major challenge for European and global society. Therefore, the European Union has the ambitious plan to reduce emissions in the community significantly, to improve environment and well being of inhabitants. To realise these objectives the development and wider use of innovative environmental- friendly technologies must be promoted. Thus, our environment will be improved, new technology fields will be opened up and novel business opportunities will be created - eco-innovation could become a driver for future growth.
However, new technologies are affected by a lack of proven information on their performance under real field conditions. Due to perceived risks it is difficult for their manufactures to convince first customers, to secure sources of finance essential to fund industrial developments and sometimes it delays necessary authorisations to place the technologies on the market.
One way to overcome the handicap and to speed up the implementation of new environmentally sound technologies could be reliable technology verification by qualified third parties using recognised procedures - environmental technology cerification (ETV). At the moment, the European Commission is considering to propose the establishment of such a system at EU level to offer a wide recognition both within Europe and globally, to make it unnecessary to repeat verification in every country where the technology is sold and to be used as valid input in national-type approval or certification procedures.
AIRTV was successfully investigating potential procedures for the verification of air emissions abatement technologies and provided:
- a verification procedure for air emissions abatement technologies including a generic protocol and nine specific protocols;
- nine reference reports on verified technologies;
- recommendations for a European ETV system in the field of air emissions abatement technologies, based on communications with stakeholders and the nine test cases;
- a CEN workshop agreement as guidance document for verification of air emission abatement technologies.
Additionally, AIRTV considered specially SMEs during the development of the project both as suppliers of technologies and test sites for technology verification as well as by means of a SME-focused dissemination strategy.
The verification process as proposed from the AIRTV project has been developed to be slim-lined for efficiency while still ensuring quality of the output. It is anticipated to be vendor driven, i.e. the vendor of a product takes the initiative.
In the first stage, the vendor who wants a technology to be tested, contacts either a verification body or a national contact point. At this stage a 'quick-check' is done in order to check if the product is suitable for verification and what kind of data is available and might be used for the verification.
If the product is suitable and the vendor decides to go for verification, a contract is set up. In the next step a protocol is developed, where the parameters to be tested are defined in order to give sufficient information for customers. If there is an existing protocol for comparable products, this will be used and adapted. If the existing data are sufficient, they will be used together with the protocol to produce the verification report. If the available data are not sufficient, a test plan is developed with expertise from technology and measurement experts.
At this point the test location is chosen in agreement between the verification manager, the experts and the vendor as the test location is needed to write an appropriate test plan. With the test plan and test location the vendor asks different (ETV recognised) test labs for offers. The verification manager and / or experts assess the quality of the offers. The vendor can choose a test lab from the labs with complying offers. In the next stage, the product is tested in order to generate the missing data for verification, i.e. the amount of testing depends on the availability of suitable data that have been produced earlier.
The verification manager is an organisation that manages the verification process from the quick-check to the final verification report. This organisation is responsible for performing the verification. During verification, external experts are needed in order to set up a relevant set of parameters for the technology to be verified. Also, they assure the claim to be realistic and verifiable, i.e. both technology and measurement experts are needed. When testing is needed, a test laboratory performs the tests according to the test plan and reports the test results. In the final stage of the verification, the EU ETV body approves the verification report and provides the logo. The EU ETV body is also responsible for the overall management and quality assurance of the verification in Europe and for co-ordination internationally.
Within the project, a generic protocol has been developed. The generic protocol serves as a template for the specific protocol to be produced for new technologies or new applications. Each specific protocol is derived in the protocol development procedure, making use of existing protocols and the generic protocol, in which it is described what information is needed under specific headlines.
The project including the performed case studies showed that the proposed verification scheme is an option for an EU ETV system.
It was possible to use only one generic protocol as template including instructions how to fill in for all cases, which probably also is possible when different technology areas are addressed. The protocol procedure is necessary, probably also, in a simplified form, if protocols are available from similar technologies. In order to avoid mistakes in protocols and test plans, the early involvement of technology and measurement experts (e.g. from the testing laboratory) is necessary.
During verification a number of documents is produced. The structure of the document is developed to avoid double work, but some further evaluation can make simplified documents to make the verification more efficient. When taking verification into account during product development, testing results can be used for future verification, reducing the total costs. Thus, clear criteria for usage of existing data are needed. The effort for checking existing data has to be compared to the effort for measuring new data.
Access to the European and international market is an important argument for ETV. ETV should provide a shortcut for successful technologies to be regarded as 'best available technology' BAT.
Costs for verification depend on the complexity of the product. Although the verification scheme can be designed to work efficiently, especially for SME additional funding might be needed in order to provide verification at acceptable costs. There are often national and possible EU-funding schemes that could be used for that purpose.
To allow immediate use of results, the AIRTV team decided to develop a CEN workshop agreement in parallel with the development of the core procedures for the European ETV scheme. This CWA will then bridge the gap between the end of the AIRTV project and the implementation of a European ETV system. The CEN workshop procedure, resulting in a CEN workshop agreement is a tool to elaborate a common agreement on specific procedures. For AIRTV, this consensus comprises the establishment of a generic system that gives systematic and documented proof of a technology as being sound in terms of its claims of operation and the environment. So the CWA provides a procedure to prove the performance of a product and not, for example, certify the conformity with certain standards or norms. In other words, the role of this CWA is to prove performance, rather than certify a product under a formal product certification scheme.
The main advantage of the CWA is its characteristic of having a streamlined process for development. However, the process is still fair and transparent, cost-efficient and fast. The CWA 42 ETV - Air emission abatement technologies (ETV-AEA) was developed in just 17 months.
CWA 42 provides a guideline for the verification of air emission abatement technologies. It specifies a verification process and reporting structure for a verified vendor claim for the performance of a specific air emission abatement technology. The technology can comprise hardware (devices, apparatus and tools), software (e. g. for process control and improvement) and physical, chemical and biotechnological processes with their adaptation to site-specific conditions.
