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  • I-UPS — Innovative High Temperature Heat Pump for Flexible Industrial Systems

    I-UPS aims to develop and validate a first-of-a-kind (FOAK), cost-effective and reliable high-temperature industrial heat pump fully integrated in a flexible energy system for industrial medium temperature (~400°C) heat decarbonisation. I-UPS validate up to TRL 5 a FOAK high-temperature heat pump, based on Stirling cycles and exploiting a non-toxic, inert, zero ozone depletion potential and zero global warming potential fluid, able to deliver decarbonized heat up to 400°C. No other commercial alternatives are available achieving this heat delivery temperature at efficiencies higher than 100%. The developed heat pump provides enhanced performance thanks to the optimization of key subcomponents, such as optimized static and dynamic sealing solutions and compact heat exchangers enabled by genetic algorithm based design optimization and additive manufacturing techniques. I-UPS provides also a seamless integration of the developed high temperature heat pump in flexible energy systems including molten salts based thermal energy storage (TES) for on-demand decarbonized industrial heat based on RES electricity. The integrated heat pump configuration will enable higher modularity, flexibility, and efficiency for heating decarbonisation also leveraging waste heat recovery and contributing to the circularity of the industrial sector.

  • Recycling of end-of-life wind blades through renewable energy driven molten salt pyrolysis process

    Wind power is one of the most promising pathways for a future fossil-free society due to its abundant resources and continuously decreasing costs. From 2013 to 2022, the global total installed capacity has grown 3 times from 300 GW to 900 GW. In Sweden, wind power has become the third largest electricity source since 2013, and its installed capacity has reached 12.1 GW by 2021. However, wind turbines themselves present another environmental issue when their useful life is over, since they will become a form of hazardous waste that cannot be decomposed naturally. Especially the wind blades, they are mostly made of glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) and can be longer than 60 m. On a global scale, it was expected that the total annual amount of end-of-life (EOL) wind blade can reach 683 ktons in 2025. In Sweden, the cumulative number of installed wind turbine has reached 813 by 2005. Based on the 20 years’ average life time for wind turbines, there will be more than 2400 pieces of wind blades need to be disposed by 2025. With the rapid growth of wind turbine installation after 2005, EOL wind blade will increase dramatically in the near future in Sweden, which is challenging the Swedish wind energy companies and recycling companies.