Project description
Innovative spiral pump for sustainable irrigation
Irrigation is a costly process that consumes a significant amount of energy and requires a high capital expenditure. In fact, energy bills alone can account for up to 40 % of total irrigation costs, prompting European farmers to seek out water-saving technologies and energy-efficient pumping methods. aQysta has developed the HyPump, a spiral pump that utilises the flow of existing irrigation canals to create pressure for water pumping without the need for fuel or electricity. The EU-funded HyPump project aims to industrialise and field-test the HyPump during Phase 2, enabling farmers to reduce overall costs by up to 75 %.
Objective
In irrigation water cannot be decoupled from energy. Raising water from rivers and canals and distribute it to the crops requires pumping of large volumes of water with a sizeable amount of pressure, which is generated by means of electric energy or by fuel-driven pumps. This turns into a substantial increase of energy consumption and capital expenditure, which has become a real concern for farmers and their communities. Besides, sharp increases in energy tariffs almost doubled the energy bills that irrigators have to pay, which accounts for up to 40% of the total irrigation costs for farmers’ communities. In a context exacerbated by the ongoing climate change, European farmers are striving to reduce their water footprint by means of water saving irrigation technologies while optimising their energy costs for pumping, with the aim to ensure long- term economic and environmental sustainability. To address this global need, aQysta has designed the HyPump, an innovative spiral pump which converts the energy from the flow of existing irrigation canals to pressure for pumping water, delivering pressurized water directly to the agriculture plots without requiring any fuel nor electricity to be operated. This Phase 2 is focussed on the industrialisation and field tests of the HyPump, which will allow farmers obtaining up to 75% savings on the overall costs for modernizing infrastructures and running an irrigation system with respect to competing electric or fuel-driven solutions, and up to 37% savings with respect to solar pumps. Through the Cost Benefit Analysis run during Phase 1, annual net savings have been estimated in the range of 5k€-8k€ per hectare with respect to electric pumping. Besides, a payback time in the range of 2,5-4 years has been estimated when switching from an electric or fuel- operated system to the HyPump, obtained with zero environmental footprint with respect to fuel or energy powered pumps.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringelectric energy
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.2.4. - Sustainable and competitive bio-based industries and supporting the development of a European bioeconomy
- H2020-EU.3.2.1. - Sustainable agriculture and forestry
- H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
- H2020-EU.3.2.2. - Sustainable and competitive agri-food sector for a safe and healthy diet
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
2629 JD DELFT
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.