Page 18 - European Energy Innovation - Winter 2016 publication

18 Winter 2016 European Energy Innovation

COMMUNICATION

Innovative solutions for the
energy efficiency in industries

Resource efficiency, and especially energy efficiency,
is a key driver to a smart and sustainable growth,
while promoting a more efficient and competitive
economy based on knowledge and innovation

In this context the Research Centre for Energy Resources
and Consumption, CIRCE (Spain) is leading several initiatives
within EU projects addressing the improvement of resource
efficiency in industry.

TOP-REF: RESOURCE EFFICIENCY IN INDUSTRY BY to compare the resource efficiency between different process
MONITORING scenarios, identifying inefficiencies, supporting decision-
TOP-REF is an initiative coordinated by CIRCE in the framework making, and detecting poor process performance.
of the industrial association SPIRE. The project consortium
consists of industrial partners including Dow Chemical,
Ibérica (DCI), Petrogal and Fertinagro (Tervalis Group)

TOP-REF will develop and demonstrate a resource-efficiency NIWE: WIRELESS POWERING FOR INDUSTRIAL FURNACES
and cross-sectorial methodology, which will be validated by CIRCE is a worldwide leader in the development and
the development and testing of non-invasive control tools. application of inductive charge for electric vehicles. This
technology has been used in the NIWE project, coordinated
By means of this methodology, the project has shown the by Tecnalia, to improve the flexibility and efficiency in the
most inefficient spots (45% of the economic losses and 55% foundry sector.
of the energetic losses), in the ethylene cracker of DCI in
Tarragona, leading to estimated savings of 3M€ per year. CIRCE, has designed and constructed a 100 kW industrial
prototype for melting and maintaining aluminum, within the
The application of TOP-REF at the Fertinagro plant (4.000 t project, in order to be tested in real conditions. The WPT
of product /year) during the drying and transport process (Wireless Power Transfer) will transfer the power from the grid
of the granulated fertilizer would imply a reduction of gas to a 500 Kg furnace with no wires, allowing the mobility of the
(2-5%) and power consumption (2-3%). This could represent furnace /ladle, and improving production flexibility.
estimated savings of up to 200.000-250.000 € per year.
Furthermore, the savings at this plant are equivalent to The quick power transmission system allows the use of smaller
the CO2 emissions of 50 cars per year, or 90 houses. This and more flexible furnaces, improving efficiency and productivity
provides an enormous potential, since the production of in the plant. For example, in the aluminum sector, the energy
fertilizers in Europe, using the same process as Fertinagro’s waste, produced as a result of overheating the aluminum to
plant, is 40 Mt/year. maintain the temperature, is avoided. Finally, the more accurate
temperature control improves the aluminum quality. l
Furthermore, the project is a pioneer in the application of
exergy as a Key Resource Indicator (KRI). Exergy enables us Contact details:
Diego Magallón Jorcano, Communication Officer
1. COM (2012) 2020 final. A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth Tel: +34 976 762 957
2. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Email: Dmagallon@fcirce.es
Web: www.fcirce.es
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration www.toprefproject.eu
under grant agreement No 604140. www.niweproject.eu
3. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Programme for research, technological development and demonstration
under grant agreement No 296024

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