During the I-ThERM project, its coordination and management ensured that all activities fulfilled the requirements of scope, timeliness and quality. Synergy between the partners was achieved by regular communication and information exchange while dissemination activities were carried out through international conferences and workshops, attending international events including the SPIRE ones in Brussels, scientific publications and general paper based material, as well as regular posts on social media and on the project website.
The heat recovery potential in the European Union was assessed through a literature review which identified and quantified primary energy consumption in the major industrial sectors, considered waste heat streams and their temperature levels, and potential energy recovery technologies. Moreover, barriers for the mass deployment of energy recovery technologies have been identified through a questionnaire that was distributed to around 50 experts from 11 European countries.
The EINSTEIN energy auditing tool-kit has been enhanced to include the I-ThERM technologies. Routines to automatically analyse historical monitoring data, calibrate the models, forecast energy consumption and optimise systems performance have been developed and implemented. These capabilities have been coupled with the innovative I-ThERM supervisory monitoring and control platform.
The I-ThERM project considers the design, manufacture and demonstration of direct exhaust heat recovery systems using innovative heat exchangers.
The Heat Pipe Condensing Economiser (HPCE) allows to cool the exhaust gases below their dew point to enhance the heat recovery. For this reason, innovative coatings for corrosion protection against environments characterised by the presence of sulphuric acid have been developed. A 200 kW HPCE system was conceived in terms of thermal and mechanical designs, heat pipe coating application during mass-scale manufacturing, instrumentation and controls.
The Flat Heat Pipe System (FHPS) aims at recovering heat from high temperature radiating surfaces. A prototype module of the FHPS has been designed, manufactured and tested first in the R&D laboratories and then in the wire rod mill facility of Arcelor Mittal Gijón (Spain). The experimental dataset allowed the calibration of the design tools and proposed an improved design of the modular FHPS with greater number of modules and a high emissivity coating.
The I-ThERM project also considers the conversion of waste heat to electricity using two new bottoming thermodynamic cycles: the Trilateral Flash Cycle (TFC) for low grade applications (70 to 200°C) and the a Brayton cycle operating with Carbon Dioxide in the supercritical state (sCO2) for medium to high temperatures ones.
A full-scale 100 kW TFC unit has been designed with the support of complex modelling activities which aimed at assessing the energy conversion performance also at off-design and transient operating conditions. The developed TFC system now has a high technology readiness level. It is characterised by a packaged design and power electronics provision for connection to the European electricity grid. The TFC system has been further tested at the Technology Centre of Spirax Sarco (UK) and subsequently successfully demonstrated at the TATA Steel site at Port Talbot (UK).
The demonstration site for the sCO2 system is an industrial scale test rig at Brunel University London that has been purposely designed for the I-ThERM project. The experimental facility comprises a 800 kW gas fired heater, generating 750°C exhaust gas temperature, and a packaged system incorporating the Compressor-Generator-Turbine (CGT) unit and ancillary equipment for lubrication, drainage electric power conversion. The sCO2 system also uses an innovative exhaust heat recovery heat exchanger which has been developed and installed in the exhaust duct of the heater and transfers heat directly to the CO2 working fluid of the sCO2 power system.
