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

5Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Renewable Heating & CoolingRHC applications to industrial processes5.3.1 Research and innovation priorities with impact in the Short TermR&D activities on biomass technology for industrial heating and cooling should focus onimproving efficiency of large-scale plants and decreasing their carbon footprint. Taking intoaccount the increasing emissions standards and the limited availability of high quality woodresources in Europe, significant R&D efforts are required to develop high-efficient loadflexiblemulti-fuel systems. Fuel supply will become a crucial issue and R&D activities shouldtherefore always consider the chain integration.Tri-generation with biomass presents various advantages which make it an interestingsolution in different energy systems. Biomass is storable renewable energy and can be usedfor regulating electricity production. Moreover, biomass can be used for heating, cooling andelectricity production with system efficiency of up to 85%.BIO.9ObjectiveDevelopment of highly efficient large-scale or industrial CHP with enhancedavailability and high temperature heat potentialThe aim of this priority is to increase the steam data, i.e. pressure and temperature(advanced steam data), from 540°C to 600°C for 100% biomass-fired plants. Biomassand/or biomass co-firing power plants should increasingly utilise waste heat for industrialheat utilisation. Alternative technology options, e.g. biomass gasification and indirect co-firing,should be investigated. Process adaptations of fuel pretreatment are required, e.g. torrefactionto reduce alkaline content of biomass and improve grindability 60 . Corrosion, fouling and agglomeration(in Fluidised Beds (FBs)) from alkali metal chlorides and heavy metals (Pb, Zn, etc)in biomass-fired plants and co-firing units should be reduced by:• R&D of new materials (austenitic alloys, Ferritic alloys, FeCrAl alloys, Ceramics) suitablefor combustion of problematic biomass types, tackling problems such as creeping, cracking,Thermal Mechanical Fatigue (TMF) , corrosion, erosion, fouling;• Development and testing of new additives that result in the formation of less corrosivesubstances: (i) sulphur containing additives: ammonium sulphate, elemental sulphur, sulfurgranules, (ii) phosphorous containing additives: dicalcium phosphate, monocalium phosphateand (iii) AlSi containing additives: kaolin, dolomite, bentonite;• Development and testing of suitable co-firing matrices for problematic biomass fuels,e.g. co-firing high alkali metal-containing biomass with high sulphur fuels;• Demonstration of new types of boiler design that minimize fouling/corrosion in critical areas,e.g. changes of excess oxygen, flue gas temperature and velocities.State-of-the-art CHP units fuelled with biomass only currently reach a net electrical efficiency around 30%and this performance is increased to over 43% for co-firing plants. Steam temperature amountto 540°C for clean biomass. Thermal shares of agrobiomass and/or RDF are limited to 20%and in most cases do not exceed 10%. The majority of large-scale plants produce power only,the heat is wasted.TargetsType of activity• Demonstration of a highly efficient (>40 %) steam CHP-plant for clean fuel fractionswith enhanced steam parameters (up to 600°C );• Demonstration of a high efficient steam (34%) CHP-plant for broader fuel span with enhancedsteam parameters (up to 540°C );• Demonstration of a high efficiency biomass and/or co-firing power plant with an agrobiomassand/or RDF thermal share of 30%;• Total CAPEX and OPEX increase of no more than 5-10% over current state of the art fornew technologies;• 1-2 demonstrations of power plants producing only electricity converted to CHP unitsfor provision of industrial heat;30% Development / 70% Demonstration5.3.2 Research and innovation priorities with impact in the Medium and Long TermBIO.10ObjectiveDevelopment of high efficient biomass conversion systems for tri-generation(heating, cooling and power)In this R&D priority the main mission is to analyse and identify the role of biomass as a“storable RES” within a 100% renewable energy system, particularly in combination withintermittent RES such as solar and wind.The new tri-generation operating environment requires new, simultaneous functions andcapabilities from the biomass CHP-C units: flexible load operation, fuel flexibility as well asoperation in integration with energy storages. Specific technologies to increase the intelligenceof multi-fuel units must be identified and developed including on-line fuel quality and processmonitoring; as well as introducing fertiliser factories in order to fully recycle the ash-boundbiomass nutrients back to the fields and forests.The system analysis requires the development of dynamic models that can simulate the dailyand seasonal behaviour of urban energy system in different climatic conditions. Dependingupon the season, climatic condition and time of day the primary function of such biomass fuelledunits may change from electricity, heating, cooling to even bio-oil production (for example withintegrated pyrolysis oil production).60Higher Hardgrove GrindabilityIndex (HGI) in order to makebiomass ‘coal mill ready’. TheHGI was developed as anempirical test to indicate howdifficult it would be to grind aspecific coal to the particlesize necessary for effectivecombustion in a pulverizedcoal fired boiler. It can alsobe used for torrefied biomass.54