It is estimated that heat use (space heating, drying/separation, high/low temperature processing) accounts for over 70% of the total UK industrial energy use. There are significant opportunities for the improved use of low grade heat, particularly from plants which operate in a batching mode, i.e. when waste heat is generated at a different time from when there is a heat demand. The market potential for recoverable heat is estimated to be between 10TWh - 40TWh per annum. Recent developments in energy processing and the need for CO2 reduction have led to a growing interest in using this heat. To maximise the use of recoverable heat and support demand reduction there is a need for intelligent thermal/chemical storage which can be used when required, be upgraded for higher temperature applications or used to offset electricity and/or cooling demand within the plant. This ensures that heat energy which would otherwise be wasted is fully exploited. The project will bring together academic groups with expertise in thermodynamics, heat transfer and energy together with academics in business and our industrial partner, Spirax Sarco, a major UK based but global company who are major suppliers of industrial heating equipment. Our aim is to research and prove new flexible technologies that will be both wanted and used by process industries such as chemicals, paper and food processing. The systems studied will include: 1. Simple storage with later delivery at nominally the same temperature. The use of advanced Phase Change Materials (PCMs) or Thermo-Chemical reactants will give much higher energy densities (i.e. be smaller) than stores using conventional materials. Size can be a critical factor in industrial applications, but attention must also be paid to cost, corrosion issues, health and safety etc. 2. Thermal transformers that can return a fraction of the stored heat at a higher temperature than it went in. This allows some of the waste heat that would otherwise be wasted to be upgraded to steam raising temperatures for re-use. Steam is still the preferred heating medium in many process industries and possible applications are numerous. 3. Variations on Thermo-Chemical storage devices can also deliver a work (electrical) output or refrigeration rather than heat as can PCM stores in conjunction with Organic Rankine Cycles. We intent to prove, compare and contrast the economics and practicability of these options. In addition to proving the technical potential of these systems it will be essential to look at their control strategies and how they can be integrated with real products. This demands a new theoretical approach. When recovering / transferring heat between continuously operating streams the technique of pinch-point analysis is used to maximise the possible quantity of energy recovered. This is much complicated when heat inputs and outputs can be at different times. We will develop a 'temporal pinch-point analysis' to cope with the increased complexity presented. The technologies will have sufficient flexibility to be applied to different size systems and this flexibility will benefit a wide range of potential energy consumers.

The purpose of the proposed research programme is to address the challenge of providing domestic hot water (DHW) using low carbon heat pump technology given the overwhelming trend away from conventional hot water tanks in homes and the inability of present heat pumps to provide instant hot water. We intend to develop a suite of heat pump / storage / control technologies, using either electricity or gas that function without conventional storage cylinders and can deliver energy efficient affordable hot water to a wide range of dwellings well into the future. Ulster will use a novel compressor being developed by industrial partner Emerson that has an exceptional range of running speeds, enabling the same device to either deliver e.g. 25 kW for instantaneous hot water or 10 kW or less for space heating. This would be used in conjunction with a small buffer store to overcome the delay in start-up before hot water is available. Present gas fired heat pumps (both commercial and under development at Warwick) are easier to modulate but are physically large if delivering 20 or 30 kW and also have a long start up time (5 minutes). The Warwick goal is to use new composite adsorbent heat exchangers to reduce start up time to one minute, even when meeting a 25 kW load and to reduce key component sizes to achieve a compact system. Thermal storage is a vital part of DHW provision by heat pumps. A small buffer store may be needed to overcome starting transients, or a large capacity store might be needed to provide a bath-full of water quickly. An intermediate capacity store might work together with a heat pump to meet peak loads. Our research will encompass buffers, compact PCM stores that could be sited in unused spaces such as corners in kitchens and 'flat' stores using vacuum or aerogel insulation that could fit under kitchen cabinets or other available unused spaces. To bring this all together into a range of integrated systems suited to different housing types etc there needs to be both an understanding of the consumer's needs and preferences plus a smart adaptive control system. In addition to data in the literature we have access to data from detailed monitoring studies previously carried out by Loughborough. Consumer preferences will be investigated by the use of surveys carried out by the User Centred Design Research Group at Loughborough Design School. Ulster will assume overall responsibility for sensor choice, control hardware and software. They will devise a system controller that adapts to and meets consumer needs in an optimal way. In the long term this will be part of a house-wide wirelessly linked system including 'wet' appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines and 'smart taps' that communicate with the DHW system so that it responds optimally to the size and type of load demanded.

Building sector accounts for more than 60% of total energy consumption in the world, while the share of domestic buildings is about 20-40%. The energy consumed is mostly utilised for heating, cooling and ventilation purposes, contributing massively to fossil fuels consumption and thus CO2 emissions. Combined heat and power (CHP) systems generate electricity and harness the heat by-product for heating of buildings. Currently CHP systems deliver a combined efficiency of up to 80%, residential and small business bills can be reduced by 20-40%, and carbon production can be reduced by 30%. They also offer fuel flexibility, and being an independent system, reduce demand on centralised power supply and distribution systems. The current roadmap for UK CHP implementation will, by 2030, yield primary energy savings of 85-86TWh/a with a savings of 10-14Mt/a. The mCHP market is currently served by Stirling, ICE, and ORC systems, all of which have significant issues that limit wide mCHP installations. The proposed ECHP system will lead to significant energy savings (greater than 40%), CO2 emissions reduction and will be approximately 30% more efficient than current mCHP systems due to unique geometry and control system applied to the highly efficient Ericsson cycle. The ECHP will use Helium, eliminating the need for HFCs. Being an external heat engine allows the use of a variety of fuels from gas, petrol, diesel, biogas, biomass, etc. The small size and silent, vibration free operation allows renovating existing building stock where the system could be installed in constrained boiler spaces. If successful, the entirely new class of mCHP will be ideally suited for new and existing UK buildings and have: (a) high efficiency; (b) low maintenance; (c) silent and low vibration; (d) HFC free; (e) compact design; (f) implementation of a simple, consumer friendly GUI interface allowing optimal system control; and (g) use external heat source, allowing a wide variety of fuels. The proposed ECHP system is expected to have the following technical advantages: a system incorporating optimised compressor and expander geometry to approach isothermal operation, computer control of individual rotor motor-generators to optimise cycle efficiency and quicker start to operation times, system integration of combustion chamber, expander, recuperator, and compressor for maximum efficiency, and an optimized control algorithm with GUI control to create a mCHP suitable for demonstration of the theory and research development. Research will begin with description of the theoretical concept in relation to the ideal Ericsson cycle. System components will be modelled, to include various geometries. Using developed computer analysis programs and CFD, rotor design, porting, and recuperator component designs will be optimised as individual components then as an integrated system. Computer simulation models will be used to predict the thermal and electrical performance of the ECHP system. This process will perform an optimisation study of the system by taking into account the influence of different parameters of the ECHP system and power output efficiency. Changes to the parameters and components will be evaluated as required. Only when the feasibility of the system is proven, components will be fabricated and electronic control hardware/software will be developed. The components and then the complete systems will be evaluated. A lab scale 3kW ECHP will be fabricated and evaluated. The outputs of this research will validate the theoretical modelling, significantly increase the body of knowledge of external heat engines and determine the technical feasibility of the proposed concept which aims to surpass current systems efficiencies and approach Carnot efficiency.

The provision of low temperature industrial process heat in 2018 was responsible for over 30% of total industrial primary energy use in the UK. The majority of this, 75%, was produced by burning oil, gas and coal. Low temperature process heat is a major component of energy use in many industrial sectors including food and drink, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, manufacture of metal products and machinery, printing, and textiles. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with low temperature process heat generation and meet UK targets, in the long term, will require a transition to zero carbon electricity, fuels or renewable heat. In the short term this is not feasible. We propose an approach in which heat is more effectively used within the industrial process, and/or exported to meet heat demands in the neighbouring area allowing significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions per unit industrial production to be achieved and potentially provide an additional revenue source. We are going to perform a programme of research that will help provide a no regrets route through the transition to eventual full decarbonisation. The research consists of, i) fundamental and applied research to cost effectively improve components and systems performance for improved heat recovery, heat storage, heat upgrading, high temperature heat pumping and transporting heat with low loss, and ii) develop new temporal modelling approaches to predict how these technologies can be effectively integrated to utilise heat across a multi-vector energy system and evaluate a transactive modelling platform to address the complexity of how heat can be reutilised economically within energy systems. A series of case studies analysing the potential greenhouse gas reductions and cost benefits and revenues that may be achieved will be undertaken for selected industrial processes including a chemical production facility in Hull, to assess the benefits of i) individual technologies, ii) when optimally integrated within a heating/cooling network, or iii) when combined in a multi-vector energy system.

The UK Government the EU and the international community in general have ambitious targets for reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) and Global Warming. Even though emission reduction targets to 2020 are likely to be met by the UK, longer term targets to 2050 and 2100 are unlikely to be met without substantial changes to policy and technological approaches in the generation, distribution and utilisation of energy. Globally, industrial energy use is responsible for 33% of greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK, industrial emissions have reduced in recent years and are now estimated to contribute between 20-25% of total emissions. Approximately 70% of the energy demand of the industrial sector is for heat. All heating processes result in significant quantities of waste heat, up to 50% in some cases, and is widely acknowledged that there is significant potential for heat recovery, estimated at between 18-40 TWh/yr or £0.18-0.4 billion per year at today's energy prices. As yet, most of this potential has remained unexploited due to technical, economic and organisational factors. Other opportunities for energy efficiency and decarbonisation include the optimisation of steam systems that are responsible for 35% of industrial energy use, the use of bioenergy, particularly from organic and other wastes generated on site, and whole industrial site energy integration and optimisation. To exploit the potential offered by energy efficiency, heat recovery and conversion to electrical or thermal energy at a higher or lower temperature and utilise the opportunities offered by waste to energy conversion and energy integration a number of major challenges need to be addressed. These include: i) development and application of technologies for data acquisition at high enough granularity to enable detailed analysis of performance at component, process and system level, ii) methodologies for the optimal design of technologies to provide confidence in their performance at implementation stage, iii) tools for performance analysis and control optimisation in real time, iv) modelling of energy flows at site level to provide optimisation of energy management based on energy, environmental and economic considerations, and iv) investigation and development of business models that overcome barriers and encourage the adoption of new energy efficient and demand reduction technologies. In the OPTEMIN project we aim to address these challenges by working very closely with our key industrial collaborators to: i) understand the major technical, operational and economic issues associated with the acquisition and analysis of large energy data, ii) use the data to gain insights into the complex energy networks, their interactions and impacts in large industrial manufacturing facilities, iii) critically evaluate the performance of new innovative energy demand reduction and energy conversion technologies using data from demonstration installations, iv) investigate drivers and business models that can facilitate their full development and commercialisation, v) develop methodologies and tools to optimise individual process design, whole site energy integration and management and evaluate their decarbonisation potential within the context of Government policies and decarbonisation roadmaps to 2050. The overall objective is to demonstrate through the research programme and fully documented case studies supported by comprehensive data sets, the potential to achieve energy demand and carbon emission reductions in excess of 15%.