Innovative and robust solutions for storage-supported waste heat utilisation

The project will develop a digital decision support system (DSS) that will serve as a central anchor for the planning and configuration of heat pump storage systems (HPS). In addition, a thermal storage system based on phase change materials, pillow plate heat exchangers and vacuum insulation for efficient storage in the temperature range above 100 °C will be developed and tested in a near-production environment. The overall objective is the robust and efficient conversion and storage of heat.

The use of waste heat through heat recovery of the new WSS type offers great potential for resilient and efficient heat conversion and storage, even for small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to assess whether such an approach is worthwhile for one's own company, the project will also develop a decision support system, which will be tested on the basis of twelve real case studies and serve as a basis for the development of integrated energy concepts for the case study partners. Process mining methods will be used to reduce the potentially high transaction costs associated with the necessary data collection. Based on this data, the design, integration and layout of the WSS can be optimised for decision support, taking into account the possible combinations of heat sources and sinks, as well as process-related, temporal, spatial, environmental and economic constraints.

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The need for companies to identify the potential for waste heat recovery, optimise energy use and recover the energy used is not only driven by cost considerations, but also increasingly by legislation, such as the obligation to report waste heat under the German Energy Efficiency Act.

The news is that only a small proportion of the energy used is recovered, particularly in the case of industrial process heat, and here in the temperature range up to 200°C, which is predominantly heated by fossil fuels.

However, there is great potential to use storage systems to smooth out fluctuating energy demand or waste heat sources and, in combination with heat recovery systems and heat pumps, to reduce overall energy demand, both within companies and between companies that are geographically linked, e.g. within an industrial estate.

With the targeted WSS and the decision support system, the HeatTransPlan project will make an important contribution to the decarbonisation of industrial process heat in the context of the energy transition.
Thanks to the strong involvement of corporate partners with proven expertise in the design and technology of heat pumps and thermal storage, interested application companies will also benefit from the project throughout its duration.