Competence project for Reduced Energy use through Advanced Technology InnoVations

Amongst the fields highlighted by CREATIV for more efficient operations are refrigeration; thermal processing; industrial air ventilation; better utilisation and storage of thermal energy; and the use of surplus heat to produce electricity. CREATIV has ac crued a range of partners so extensive and varied that it is estimated the consortiums research could account for over two-thirds of Norwegian industry energy reduction targets. Different industrial sectors have different potential for energy reducti on, and various approaches have of course been done to meet the demand for efficient production. CREATIV has been looking at revolutionising refrigeration systems, replacing halocarbon refrigerants (significant leaks (10-15%) of which are emitted every year) with natural working fluids like CO2 which gives a tremendous potential for reducing the carbon footprint. A new high efficient 100kW CO2 compressor has been developed which reduce the overall energy with up to 12%, and in addition to a ejector sy stem which utilize the pressure drop losses, the potential for reducing energy in refrigeration processes is 20%. For foodproducing industry, the potential for reducing the specific energy is also high. The project has developed and implemented a compac t, environmental friendly and efficient 250kW CO2 RSW system for fishing vessels, which gives a potential for reducing energy for chilling fish on boats by 40%. A new concept of chilling food products like fish and meat is Superchilling, where 5-20% of the product water is frozen. This doubles the shelf-life, without getting freeze damaged. This reduces the demand for freezing for products in abattoir, and reduces the overall refrigeration energy with up to 13%. By using superchilling on fresh fish for transportation, there is no need for additional ice. This gives more fish on the trucks, which again reduce the C-footprint/kg fish by 20-25%. From Norway only, this corresponds to more than 50.000 cars. Chilling of food gives always surplus heat. An implementation of an industrial heat pump for utilizing the surplus heat to produce hot water in an abattoir has shown that the carbon footprint has been reduced from 23 to 9kg CO2-eqv/ton. Other uses of the surplus heat from refrigeration plants have also shown great potential. A heat driven chiller uses surplus heat, and with an additional el-supply of 7kW, there are possible to produce 180 kW of cooling capacity. A large potential as shown in a calculation of an industry cluster where one company w ith surplus heat supplies this to nearby other building (offices/storages) has shown a potential of an overall energy reduction for the industry park of 20%. The CREATIV team has designed a fully integrated energy concept for supermarket, with a smart use of surplus heat from the refrigeration system and therefor 0 kWh for electrical heating. The system stores energy both in tanks and in the ground, and have a ventilation system specially constructed for supermarkets. The system gives free cooling (AC) by use of the energy wells, and can easily be regulated between the different heating and cooling demand depending on the winter and summer temperatures. A compromise solution has been installed in an existing supermarket, and shows 15% less energy use compared with average supermarkets. A new fully integrated system has been implemented in a new supermarket, with measured 30% decrease of energy use (won the Trondheim Municipality Energysaving Price 2014) The biggest potential for utilization of surplus heat comes from the paper pulp, the refin eries and the metal industry which uses more than 70% of the industrial energy in Norway. It has been shown technical possibilities for one Al-plant to increase production of electricity from 0.2 to 1 TWh from the high temperature surplus heat, but further research is necessary to be able to make a sustainable production of El from surplus heat with temp down to 100°C. From one Al-plant, low temp surplus heat covers for approx 14 TWh. Some can be directly use for district heating, and some can be increased in value by using high temp heat pumps. The challenge is that most of this industry is located fare from cities which are able to us e the surplus heat from these plants. The Creativ project has shown concepts and technologies with big potential for energy reduction. For Norway to succeed with its goal to reduce the specific energy use by 20% in 2020, the biggest focus must be on re ducing the energy for, and utilize the surplus heat from the big 3 sectors; the paper pulp, the refineries and the metal industry. The most promising areas are related to production of electricity from high temperature (>100 °C) surplus heat, use of effective heat pump systems for low/medium (25-100 °C) and design of industry cluster with energy sharing.

Increased energy efficiency is the most efficient and least expensive path to a sustainable energy future. Energy saved does not cause emissions, and energy not used reduces the need for new controversial power plants. A recent IEA study shows that energ y efficiency measures will have to account for more than half of the sum of all measures required globally to avoid unacceptable global warming in our century. Norwegian industry consumes more than 1/3 of the total Norwegian energy consumption and emits m ore than 1/3 of the national emission of greenhouse gases. The main objective of KMB CREATIV is to demonstrate that more than 1/4 reduction in both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will be feasible through a long term R&D effort within the areas of the project. The project has 3 core subprograms; -Electricity production from surplus heat with objective; to innovate and bring forward technology enabling exploitation of surplus low temperature heat for an efficient production of electricity. -Utilisation of thermal energy with objective; to move the technological barriers for utilisation of low temperature thermal heat for industrial purposes. -Efficient heating and cooling with objective; to release potential for energy efficiency improveme nts in the processing industry through in-depth research and technology development within the area of heat/ mass transfer and fluid flow. CREATIV will stimulate innovation in the industry dealing with technology for energy efficiency. In Japan, more than 5 million units for producing energy efficient hot water will be sold already by the end of next year, based on licensed technology developed at SINTEF / NTNU commercialized by Norwegian companies. In the auto industries, a similar breakthrough for new t echnology with the same knowledge base may be just around the corner, and in the aluminium, ferroalloys and silicon industries there is a huge potential for recovery of waste heat as electric power.