1. Introduction to the RFCS Programme

2. Practical Aspects of the Programme

3. Administration and Status

4. RFCS weblinks

RFCS Information Day

ECSC: From the past…

– 1952: ECSC Treaty (50 years)

– Expired in July 2002

– Assets left: ~ 1.6 bn€

…to the present: RFCS

– 2001: Treaty of Nice

– To transfer the ECSC assets to the European Community

– To create the

RFCS: 1 Feb 2003

* ECSC: European Coal and Steel Community

WHY the RFCS Programme?

• A research fund with a budget of ~55 M€/year

• Promoting industrial research in the field of

– Coal and Steel

• Open call for proposals for

– Research projects (60% funding)

– Pilot & Demonstration projects (50% funding)

– Accompanying measures– Deadline: in principle, September 15th of each

year

• Outside the FP…yet closely co-ordinated & complementary

WHAT is the RFCS Programme?

RFCS funding allocation

~ 40 M€/y

~ 15 M€/y

Coal27.2%

Steel72.8%

Facts and Figures

• Typically 40 Million € per year for Steel ~= 30 Grant agreements

• Typically 15 Million € per year for Coal ~= 8 Grant agreements

• Approximately 350 Grant Agreement running at any one time

• 440 Million € invested in Coal and Steel research since 2003

• Good mix of Industry, academia and research centres

• Scientific, technical, innovative projects, well defined objectives

• Can be complimentary to other funding

• Typical funding, 1 to 2 Million €. Occasionally as large as 5

Million €

RFCS Information Day

The C

om

mis

sion

Technical Groups

CAG/SAG

COSCO

RFCS Programme management

Programme CommitteeRepresentatives of the

Member States 1)

Coal / Steel Advisory GroupRecommended representatives 2)

12 Technical GroupsSenior Experts for

project monitoring & review 2)

+ independent Evaluation Experts for selection of projects 2)

1) Appointed by the Member States2) Appointed by the EC

Process calendar

Process Date Year

Proposal Submission Deadline

15th September (annually) N

Evaluations October to December N

Negotiations December to May N + 1

Commission Decision May to June N + 1

Target start date 1st July N + 1

Reporting (financial and technical) Until N + 5

Mid-term 31st March N + 3

Final 31st March N + 5

Publication Autumn N + 5

Example 36 months project: - Start = 01 July N + 1

- End = 30 June N + 4

Project life cycle

Proposal - Evaluation- Negotiations

Project - Technical Reports (Annual, Mid-term and Final) - Financial Statements (Mid-term and Final)

Results - Publication

Decision 40% €

Mid-Term 40% €

Final 20% €

STEEL: Programme Research Objectives

RTD and the utilisation of steel

New and improved steelmaking and finishing techniques

Conservation of resources and improvement of working conditions

TGS 1 - Ore agglomeration and Iron makingTGS 2 - Steelmaking processes TGS 3 - Casting, reheating and direct rolling TGS 4 - Hot and cold rolling processesTGS 5 - Finishing and coatingTGS 6 - Physical metallurgy and design of new generic steel gradesTGS 7 - Steel products and applications for automobiles, packaging andhome appliancesTGS 8 - Steel products and applications for building, construction and industryTGS 9 - Factory-wide control, social and environmental issues

STEEL Technical Groups

Number of proposals received

From 2002 to 2009:

- 258 coal proposals & 1024 steel proposals received

-75 successful coal projects 354 succesful steel projects

-Average success rate ~ 30% to 34%

40 34 35 36 36 21 23 33 22

116 143173 154 143

97 99131

123

0

50

100

150

200

250

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Steel

Coal

WHO can participate?

•Any legal entity established in any of the Member States

•Consortium size – no minimum - but typically 4 to 8 participants

• Not necessarily directly connected with the coal or iron and steel industries but the project has to be within the scope of the programme

•Partners from Candidate or Third Countries are welcome (though not eligible for EC funding)

Testing of advanced materials

Budget: 15 M€ (initial) - 40% by RFCS

17 partners from 6 EU countries

Final Objective:

η > 50% Coal Power Plant

COMTES700

Component Test Facility for a 700°C Power Plant

Host Plant: E-ON Scholven F, Gelsenkirchen (D)

ULCOS

Ultra-Low CO2 Steelmaking

Selection of promising steelmaking routes

Budget: 55 M€ - co-funded by RFCS & FP6

48 partners from 13 EU countries

Final Objective:

50% CO2 reduction in steelmaking

RFCS Flagship projects

RFCS priorities

Annual Priorities agreed with industry – Technical Committee chairs:– TGC suggestions, ESTEP working Groups– Advisory Groups proposes final version

Implimentation– Published each year in the ‘infopack’– 1 “extra” point over 25 points– Helps a good proposal but other proposals which

are not in line with the priority are regularly funded

• How can you take part?

• In a proposal

• Read the SYNOPSIS – it gives a good

overview of what is currently being funded

• Make contact with experienced beneficiaries

with whom you can add value

• As an expert evaluator

• Help us evaluate proposals. Register on

CORDIS

• Assist in formulating priorities

• Take contact with SAG + CAG member

RFCS Information Day

RFCS Weblinks

• RFCS website: - http://cordis.europa.eu/coal-steel-rtd/

• Information Package - http://cordis.europa.eu/coal-steel-rtd/infopack_en.html

• Latest published technical reports: - http://bookshop.europa.eu/ - http://cordis.europa.eu/library/

• Synopsis of ongoing RFCS projects: - http://cordis.europa.eu/coal-steel-rtd/synopsis_en.html

Total RFCS funding allocation for COAL projects from 2003 to 2011*: 136.6 M€

(*) 2011 provisional figures

RFCS - COAL research:Funding distribution &

activities

36% 49 M€ 19% 26 M€ 45% 61 M€

• Coal mining• CO2 geol. storage• Underground gasification • …

• Coal preparation• Coal gasification• Synfuels• …

• Clean coal tech. • CO2 capture• Co-combustion• …

SOURCING CONVERSION COMBUSTION

Coal projects funding by TG (Historically 2003-2011)

0

5

10

15

20

25

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Million €

TG C3

TG C2

TG C1

Avg TGC1

(2007-2011) =

44%2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Million € 6,9 1,8 5,7 2,3 7,8 7,7 4,6 10,2 2,4% 43 12 35 16 50 59 57 48 14Million € 2,9 0,9 2,5 4,3 3,4 1,7 2,2 7,0 1,3% 18 6 15 31 22 13 28 32 8Million € 6,3 12,6 8,0 7,4 4,4 3,7 1,2 4,2 13,0% 39 82 49 53 28 28 15 20 78

TOTAL Million € 16,1 15,3 16,1 14,0 15,6 13,1 8,0 21,4 16,6

TGC1

TGC2

TGC3

Recommended for funding by TG

8%3%

10%

10%

10%

5%14%

27%

13%TGS1TGS2TGS3TGS4TGS5TGS6TGS7TGS8TGS9

20%

2%

9%

10%

9%5%

14%

20%

11%

% of proposals recommended for funding (40)

% of requested fundingfor proposals recommendedfor funding (45.0 million €)

Evaluation results

RFCS Monitoring & Assessment

• Main objective = Assess the benefits of the RTD to society and to the industry sectors

• – Analysis of the RFCS Programme – Make recommendations for the improvement of the RFCS and

its effectiveness

• RFCS projects (closed) over a 7 year process• Conducted by an expert committee • Creation of working groups in 2011 Q2 and Q3• Will report in 2012