Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable ... - EGEC

RenewableHeating & CoolingEuropean Technology Platform4.3.1 Research and innovation priorities with impact in the Short TermAs biomass technologies covering the heat and sanitary water demand of the servicesector become increasingly competitive, more demonstration projects are needed tocreate confidence and to spur Europe-wide diffusion. The main challenges are in the developmentand demonstration of cost-efficient and energy-efficient system concepts, whichmake use of different technologies for RHC in bi- or multivalent (hybrid) systems. Intelligentsystem design and effective heat storage are key priorities for efficiencyimprovements. Another core element is the development of integrated, plug & play controltechnology optimised for the integrated use of other renewable energy technologies andrelevant components.Whilst the above is mostly related to cross-cutting topics, the main challenges related onlyto biomass technology are the development of cost-effective solutions to reducedust emissions and the development of small scale CHPs.BIO.6ObjectiveCost effective solutions to reduce dust emissionsIn order to overcome the tightening of air quality requirements, secondary measuresto reduce dust emissions will be required in the future. Therefore, reliable and cost-effectivePM abatement technologies for applications of roughly 100 to 500 kW th are to be developedand demonstrated. These can either be fabric filters, electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) orscrubbers and/or condensers.Whilst sophisticated combustion systems for high-quality fuels should be able to withstandtighter air quality requirements with primary measures only, combustion of lower grade woody,non woody, RDF and pre-treated fuels will require the use of secondary measures.Their application must be able to show a clear economic trade off between increasedinvestments and fuel cost savings.State-of-the-artTargetsPM abatement technology is state-of-the-art for biomass plants of 500 kW nominalthermal loads and more. Typical investment costs for existing PM abatement technologiesare about 1/3 of the total investment costs of the biomass plant. For the thermal load rangeof 100 to 500 kW, there are no proven economically viable technologies available so far.Several technologies (bag house filters, fabric filters, ESPs, scrubbers) are under developmentand/or under demonstration, or just appearing on the market now. No technology hasreached successful commercialisation so far.Technological goals are to reliably achieve clean gas concentrations complying with therelevant air quality requirements with a successful decoupling of abatement technologyand boiler performance, and a maintenance-free operation.In order to become viable technology options, investment costs have to be reduced byroughly 25%. To do so, new production technologies for serial production of PM abatementtechnology is necessary.Type of activity40 % Development / 60% DemonstrationBIO.7ObjectiveCogeneration technologies and small scale biomass gasification technologiesThe objective is to develop and demonstrate technologically reliable and economicallycompetitive cogeneration technologies in an electric nominal power range of roughly 10to 250 kW electric. The technological options to be validated are Stirling engine, steam engine,ORC, and externally fired gas turbines based on biomass combustion, as well as internalcombustion engines (IC) or small-scale gas turbines using syngas from biomass gasification.Whilst for the combustion-based concepts it will be crucial to develop heat transfer conceptsthat avoid deposit formation on and fouling of heat exchangers, syngas quality will be crucialfor the success of gasification-based cogeneration concepts. The latter will require the furtherdevelopment of small-scale gasification concepts and the development of cost-effective syngascleaning technology to overcome tar problems. Applicable fuels range from wood pellets for thesmaller scale technologies, up to low grade wood chips or even locally available non-wood orpre-treated biomass fuels derived from waste streams for the technologies on the upper electricoutput range considered.For the demonstration stage applications allowing for an expected required minimum of5,000 hours of full load operation and a higher tolerance regarding different fuel qualitiesmust be identified. Heat use for heating purposes or for thermal cooling must be ensured.State-of-the-art So far, only IC concepts using biogas and / or biodiesel are commercially available in theconcerned scale. Solid biomass-based cogeneration technologies are not commerciallyavailable yet. Several concepts, based both on biomass combustion as well as on gasificationare under development however no technological breakthroughs have been achieved inrecent years.Targets Economic viability and cost competitiveness without the need of subsidies by 2020(assuming reference oil price of 100$ per barrel)Type of activity 25% Research / 50% Development / 25% Demonstration45