The Heat is On

Research project

Start date 01 September 2021

The use of heat is one of the great challenges for a lot of industries. Heat production requires enormous amounts of energy – and often this heat dissipates and is lost in the process. For the agrifood, paper and chemical industry, 40 to 80% of CO2-emissions are caused by heat. Examples of this are processes like separating or drying materials. The necessary energy is mostly generated from fossil fuels, which damages the environment.

Luckily, there is a solution. These processes are vital parts of the production process, however, this doesn’t mean that there is no room for improvement. The most important factors are generating heat (very energy intensive), applying heat and holding onto heat. By improving the efficiency of these steps, processes can be improved without having to be replaced. This is a classic example of how a lot of small changes can lead to a huge result. Recent research shows that the industries that have been selected for this project (agrifood, paper and chemistry) can reduce their CO2-emissions by 0.9 Mton in the coming 5 years by adopting energy saving procedures.

From April 1st, 2021 until January 1st, 2025, the following research results are expected:

Efficient extraction of water and drying with the aid of technologies that have a high solids content, resulting in 10% less water needing to be evaporated/dried and the associated energy savings.
The development of a combination of innovations in heat integration and drying leads to a 50% reduction in fossil fuel consumption in the drying process.
The development of smart production solutions that yield 10% energy savings through optimisation of the production process and improved process control.
Agrofood case: the development of an innovative process design for dewatering, drying and heat integration, resulting in 50% energy savings by 2030.
Paper industry case: the development of an innovative process design for dewatering, drying and heat integration, resulting in 60% energy savings by 2030.
Fine chemicals industry case: the development of an innovative process design for dewatering, drying and heat integration, resulting in 15% energy savings by 2030.
A collaborative partnership in the field of heat innovations.
Exploitation: proposals for follow-up pilot or showcase projects.

The expectation is that, in 2030, we will use 30% less energy on average in the paper, agriculture and chemical industries. This is based on the expected results from the cost-effective and energy saving dewatering, drying and warmth integration innovations. When this is implemented by all companies within the three industries mentioned earlier, this can lead to a reduction of 3.7 Mton in CO2 emissions.