Project description
New type of compressed natural gas fuel tank
More than a million vehicles on Europe’s roads run on compressed natural gas (CNG), and the number is rising. With rising demand, a new generation of CNG tanks is required to be in line with the European alternative fuels strategy aimed at easing oil dependency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. Most CNG tanks are currently made from metal or polymer liner. The EU-funded Polaris project will bring to market a new process for the fast and efficient production of CNG tanks, using an 8-axis robotic tape placement cell from MF Tech and high-quality carbon/polyamide tape developed by Coventive Composites. These technologies can reduce CNG tank weight by 10 % and cost by 20 %.
Objective
There are currently 1.3 million Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles on Europe’s roads, expected to rise to 15 million by 2030. Customers such as Audi, Daimler and Volvo have set a target 10% weight and cost reduction for CNG tanks, to increase efficiency and reduce vehicle cost.
Most CNG tanks are made from a metal or polymer liner, over-wound with a carbon/epoxy composite, but:
• Wet-winding of carbon/epoxy is slow, so limits cost-effective production
• Their properties vary by up to 10%, so excess material is used to compensate
To meet the customer targets, Plastic Omnium has developed a new process for the fast, efficient production of CNG tanks, using 8-axis robotic tape placement cell from MF Tech, and high quality carbon/polyamide tape developed by Coventive Composites.
Together, these technologies can reduce CNG tank weight by 10% and cost by 20%. The technologies are currently at TRL 6, and the objective is to overcome the 3 remaining barriers to demonstration at TRL 7/8:
1. Materials: Optimise and upscale the carbon/polyamide tapes to meet cost, accuracy and property needs
2. Process: Enhance the vessel-winding process to meet performance, weight and quality requirements
3. Product: Upscale the manufacture of carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, to enable economic production
Overcoming these barriers will trigger our customers to start certification of the carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, as the next step in our commercialisation plan.
The USP is that no other CNG tanks can offer the required weight and cost savings. Our customers have a requirement of 150,000 tanks per annum, and Plastic Omnium forecasts sales of 20,000 tanks (€11.7m) by 2025/26. MF Tech will supply robotic placement cells worth €2.1m and Coventive Composites will supply tapes worth €6.2m.
This proposal fits the FTI work programme, as it takes the tape manufacture and winding technologies from TRL6, and addresses the last steps needed to reach commercialisation and sales within 1 year.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering composites
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels fossil energy natural gas
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- engineering and technology environmental engineering air pollution engineering
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Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EC - Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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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
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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.
IA - Innovation action
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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) H2020-EIC-FTI-2018-2020
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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.
S41 9QG Chesterfield
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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