The project has a duration of 4 years, and it has a framework of NOK 250 million. SINTEF Energy Research has initiated the project, and is responsible for the
project management and administrative coordination for the user group that includes 15 participants from 7 nations.
Two years after the first initiative we are finally up and going. The project application was posted in December 2004, and received a very good evaluation by the European Commission with 28 out of 30 possible points. The amount of finding granted was as requested in the application. The kick-off meeting was arranged in Trondheim. During this two-day meeting, the president of SINTEF Energy Research Sverre Aam gave a presentation of energy-related initiatives at NTNU and SINTEF.
The European Commission representative Andreas Heinz (National Expert) presented the background for European initiatives within bio-energy, and their expectations for NextGenBioWaste. Among the points he emphasized were:
- The use of bio-energy contributes to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (bio-mass is CO2 neutral).
- The European Union has ambitious objectives with regard to the utilization of renewable energy and especially bio-energy (see Facts).
- The utilization of bio-energy is inadequate and if today's trends continue the EU’s objectives will not be met by 2010.
- The European Union has various instruments to develop the bio-energy market, such as "The Action Plan for Bio-Mass in Europe".
- Energy from biomass and waste is expected to contribute considerably to Europe's future energy system.
Mr Heinz also talked about contractual conditions for European Commission projects. There are many aspects to take into consideration, and the regulations need to be followed closely with regard to time of reporting and documentation, among other things. The main message and encouragements from Heinz to the project participants were:
- Follow all the rules and regulations closely.
- Always inform the Commission about changes that are made.
- Ask if there is any doubt.
- The European Commission follows the rules closely. Do not risk losing funds that you deserve.
- Ensure that there is quality in every link
- All deliverables must be of high quality and delivered at the right time.
Both the general assembly and the steering committee of the project were constituted. All partners have a representative in the general assembly and Pamela Henderson from Vattenfall Utveckling was elected to be the chair. The steering committee consists of representatives from 6 of the partners and is managed by SINTEF's president Sverre Aam.
Guided tour at Heimdal District Heating Plant
On the second day of the meeting there was an orientation and a guided tour of Heimdal District Heating Plant, where a new combustion unit is to be completed in 2007. This will more than double the capacity of the plant. The media was present at Heimdal too, and radio interview and a TV programme were broadcasted.
Trondheim Energy, District Heating (TEVF) participates in the project with several activities. New control systems are to be demonstrated at the combustion facility
at Heimdal, and the long-term effects of combusting bio-mass with varying quality are to be studied at the bio-fuel facility at Marienborg in Trondheim. TEVF is also to map the different options for treatment methods of the residue ash.
Consortium with 15 partners from 7 countries
SINTEF Energy Research has been responsible for project management, coordination and administrative support for the participants, which consists of15 partners from 7 European countries. The partners represent R&D institutions, energy suppliers and suppliers of technology. The project coordinator is Lars Sørum, and the project manager is Einar Jordanger.
1 SINTEF Energy Research AS, Norway
2. Vattenfall Utveckling AB, Sweden
3. TNO, the Netherlands
4. Joint Research Centre of the EC, the Netherlands
5. KEMA, the Netherlands
6. Vattenfall Europe, Waste to Energy GmbH, Germany
7. Keppel Seghers Technology Group, Belgium
8. Max-Planck-Institute, Germany
9. SVUM, a.s., Prague, Czech Republic
10. Gemeinschaftskraftwerkrr Schweinfurt GmbH, Germany
11 Trondheim Energiverk Fjernvarme (Trondheim Energy, District Heating), Norway
12. Afval Energie Bedrijf, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
13. Vattenfall AB Business Unit Nordic Heat, Sweden
14. N.V. Afvalverwerking Rijnmond, the Netherlands
15. ASM BRESCIA SPA, Italy
Tasks in the project
NextGenBioWaste focuses on the combustion facility itself from the point where fuel enters it until smoke leaves its chimneys. The project is organized into 4 sub-projects (SP), and in addition comes the administration of the project. Vattenfall Utveckling is responsible for SP1, which relates to preparing and mixing the fuel to be used. Conversion technologies (SP2) which is the largest sub-project amounts to about 75 % of the budget is managed by TNO from the Netherlands, while Management and Use of Ash (SP3) is managed by KEMA, also from the Netherlands. SINTEF is responsible for the information and dissemination of project results (SP4).
Included in the project is demonstration of new technology supported by research activities. The project participants will focus on technology that has already been tested at laboratory scale. During the project the solutions are to be scaled up to full scale by rebuilding existing combustion facilities.
SINTEF's role in the project
Apart from being the project manager, SINTEF is responsible for the sub-project that covers information and dissemination of results. In addition, SINTEF has research tasks within two of the other sub-projects. These are experiments in an advanced multi-fuel reactor to study the influence of fuel quality, the
preparation and mixing of the smoke-gas composition, as well as the ash quality. The results are to be used as a basis for the choice of fuel to be tested in the demonstration facility. SINTEF is also going to study the output when varying the fuel quality and investigate the operational conditions with regard to corrosion and coating in the combustion facilities by using equilibrium calculations. In the boiler optimization work SINTEF is going to use CFD calculations (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to study the particle stream and allocation in the boiler for one of the demonstration facilities in the project.
SINTEF's share of the budget is NOK 18 million during the 4 year-long period. 50 % of this sum comes from the European Commission, while the Research Council of Norway will cover part of SINTEF’s own contribution.
The next project meeting is in Italy
The next project meeting will be at the partner ASM in Brescia, Italy in 2007. This is when the project activities need to be planned in detail and set into operation. During the first year the facility is to be rebuilt/reconstructed, demonstrations are to be started up and 26 deliverables are to be completed.
More information may be found on the project's web page
Project management team: From the left, Einar Jordanger (SINTEF), Andreas Heinz (EC), Lars Sørum (SINTEF), Pamela Henderson (Vattenfall), Robert von Kessel (NTO), Frans Lamers (KEMA) and Mette Bugge (SINTEF).
