Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3 – March 2017

The Concept Potential Impact

The Bio-HyPP power plant is a combined heat and power (CHP) system that can use both biogas and natural gas as the fuel. The Bio-HyPP concept is based on a hybrid power plant - a combination of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and a micro gas turbine (MGT). The project aims at developing a full-scale technology demonstrator with an electric power output of 30 kW.

The realisation of the full-scale technology demonstrator of a Hybrid Power Plant in a lab environment suitable for gaseous sustainable biomass feedstock derived from fermentation processes will validate the great potential of the hybrid plant concept as an efficient and energy-sustainable source of heat and electrical power.

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Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Welcome to the Third Bio-HyPP Newsletter!

In the past few months a lot of activities have been carried out in the Bio-HyPP project. The

project partners met virtually and in person. An effort has been made from all partners to involve possible Stakeholders in the project. Stakeholders’ valuable input and suggestions were collected thanks to an online questionnaire.

In this Issue:

• Project Progress

• Latest & Upcoming Events

• Latest & Upcoming Deliverables

• Partner’s section - MTT and TU/e

On the 7th of March 2017 the Consortium met for the seventh Technical Project Meeting and General Assembly in Stuttgart, hosted by DLR. The main focus of the meeting was the technical progress of each work package and of the project status in general. The meeting brought lively discussions on current and upcoming project objectives.

Overall, the project is well on track.

The new version of the Bio-HyPP poster is already available on the website. Please have a look here!

In order to disseminate the project results the Consortium partners participated to several events and fairs. The last one was “Biogas – Expo & Congress” on 8th and 9th February held in Offenburg, Germany. Dr. Andreas Huber, DLR held the presentation “High efficient and flexible generation of heat and power – the hybrid power plant”. At the same congress the new poster was presented.

For more detailed information about and around the project, we warmly invite you to have a look at our project website, which is constantly kept up-to-date with the latest project related news:

www.bio-hypp.eu

Project Progress

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Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Real market opportunities of Bio-HyPP system

The analysis of the market exploitation opportunities for CHP systems permits the identification of suitable scenarios for the future installation of the Bio-HyPP system. The fuel flexibility permits its installation, both in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants sites, and in locations traditionally served by natural gas fed CHP plants. Here is a quick review of possible scenarios highlighted by the analysis, extracted from the deliverable D1.1 - “Analysis of market opportunities and legislative assessment”

CanteensThe direct collection of kitchen food waste (KFW) on the place of production to fed an AD plant could represent a valid way to decrease disposal costs, contemporarily producing electric energy and useful heat. For these reasons universities and campuses, hospitals and nursery homes, could represent suitable scenarios for the

Bio-HyPP system.

GreenhousesGreenhouses present very high energy

consumption. Especially in Northern Europe

many greenhouses are equipped with natural

gas fed CHP systems, furnishing electricity for

the lightning system and space heating. The

exploitation of agro residues as AD feedstock

for biogas production could make greenhouses

suitable scenarios for CHP systems.

Livestock farmsLivestock farms are traditionally favourable scenarios for the installation of AD plants. The installed electric power varies from a few kWe to 1 MWe. The feedstock alimenting the AD plant is generally animal manure or slurry, often in co-digestion with agricultural or food residues, to improve biogas yields. Also this could be a scenario of installation of the Bio-HyPP system.

These scenarios will be further detailed. If you are interested to analyse this more thoroughly, please have a look here!

Food and Beverage industry The continuous availability of processing residues makes the F&B industry one of the most promising scenarios for the installation of a Bio-HyPP system. Such industries produce several flows characterized by high organic content, appearing suitable for AD and biogas production. This could be exploited permitting a signifi-

cant cost reduction.

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Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Project Progress

Stakeholders engagement approach

In order to establish a Stakeholders Group, the Bio-HyPP Consortium analysed the industry and market sectors related to the Bio-HyPP project and selected possible Stakeholders from the CHP and micro-CHP system sector, the biogas sector and the energy sector. The selected ones have been contacted through an invitation e-mail to join our Group. The e-mail included the Stakeholders Engagement Document providing an insight into the Bio-HyPP project, presenting the benefits and advantages for Stakeholders Group members, the proposed opportunities and the requested effort. If you are interested to join the Group, please have a look at Stakeholders Engagement Document here!

The invitation e-mail also contained a direct link to the online registration form, available at http://survey.bio-hypp.eu/, permitting the Stakeholders to easily register to the Group, inserting some contact details.

Project Progress

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Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Main outcomes from the questionnaire

The Stakeholders Group members were invited to participate in the questionnaire “An insight into the future EU Energy market”. The Stakeholders’ contribution will provide the Bio-HyPP consortium with the necessary external feedback from an industrial and market point of view. As well, it will support the project with valuable and experienced commercially oriented insights toward the future marketability of the Bio-HyPP system and the most market oriented technological improvements.The analysis of respondents’ categories showed that the Bio-HyPP project caught the interest of different typologies of stakeholders, mainly associations and research institutions active both in biogas and energy-production sectors. Their current knowledge about topics related to the project is remarkable, rated slightly higher for biogas related topics compared to CHP-related ones.The main outcomes are:• Distributed generation is foreseen as a promising opportunity• European micro-CHP market is expected to grow• Micro biogas grids are considered a promising solution for installation of satellite CHP• Small-mid size range of electric power output is selected as the most suitableThe complete analysis of responses is reported in D5.4 - “First Stakeholders’ vision document” , available here. A stakeholders’ workshop will be organised in late 2017 in order to collect other suggestions and prepare next steps.

Dynamic models developed

The Bio-HyPP system will be analysed in detail in order to understand its behaviour and develop a control strategy in any different operating condition. The deliverable D1.4 - “Real time Dynamic models” analyses the real-time modelling approach and the integration of real-time models with the emulator plants employed in the Bio-HyPP project. The emulator plants need to be integrated with models in order to replicate the behaviour of the real hybrid system. This is done to avoid high costs and risks which are related e.g. with a real solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Two different hybrid system configurations have been analysed: the top-efficiency and the top-economic layout emulators. The connection between the physical emulator and the real-time model has been described in detail, analysing the input/output for the model and the plant. Finally a description of the practical method to connect real-time models with the emulators has been explained, which will be used as guideline for the experimental tests. If you want to pick up on this point, please have a look here!

Project Progress

Behavior of pressurized SOFC stacks

The picture below shows the high pressure SOFC test rig that is used to carry out the experiments. The test rig is located at DLR premises in Stuttgart, Germany. It is capable of testing small planar SOFC stacks at pressures up to 8 bar. Different gas compositions (containing H2, N2, CH4, CO, CO2 and H2O) can be applied at the anode via mass flow controllers or a water pump. This allows to emulate and test different biogas compositions.

The operation with natural gas (CH4) and biogas (50 % CH4 + 50 % CO2) showed very similar results at otherwise equal operating conditions. It is concluded that the influence of fuel composition is negligible at cell level within the range of investigated fuels. Similar power output can be achieved with both fuels. The experimental results on stack level can be widely applied to system level. For similar operating conditions of the SOFC module, similar power output can be achieved. However, the different fuel compositions also have an influence on the operating conditions. Especially, the operating temperature has a strong effect on SOFC performance. Temperature of the anode gas is influenced by reforming and gas recirculation. Cathode gas temperature is affected by system components like the recuperator. The achievable gas recirculation ratio will also be affected by fuel composition. A final and overall evaluation of the influence of CO2 content therefore needs to be carried out on system level. If you wish to deepen this issue, please have a look here!

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Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Micro Turbine Technology

Micro Turbine Technology (MTT) is a Dutch company with the ambition to develop low-cost highly-efficient micro gas turbines and their applications. The potential of micro gas turbines as a ‘prime mover’ for converting small-scale thermal energy into mechanical and electrical power is enormous.

Eindhoven University of Technology

TU/e is a research university specializing in engineering science & technology. With advanced quality research, the university contributes to the progress of technical sciences and thus the development of technological innovations.

Partner’s Section - This issue presents MTT and TU/e

Since mid 2008 MTT has been fully focussed on the development of a Micro Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) system. MTT’s micro-CHP system EnerTwin is CE certified and has successfully operated in field tests over the past three years. MTT has established a wide consortium of risk sharing industrial partners around this system, allowing production volumes of up to 10.000 units per year. In the Bio-HyPP project MTT is the main responsible for the development and integration of the micro gas turbine for the hybrid power plant. As the plant requires a highly-robust and stable gas turbine, it is a great show-case for MTT’s technology. At the same time, the turbine developments brought forth within the Bio-HyPP project will eventually be implemented in the commercial EnerTwin system.

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The development of the electromechanical subsystem of micro-gas turbine (MGT) is carried out by Electromechanics and Power Electronics (EPE) group of TU/e. The main focus is put on the high-speed generator design suitable for serial production. Currently, the design process of the first prototype is in the final stage. After the first series of tests and indicators of the performance obtined, this design will be adopted to fit in MGT system of the CHP and will be integrated into the demonstrator. Part of the improvement program of

the micro gas turbine is replacing the oil lubricated bearings with aerodynamic bearings. Therefore, a complete re-design of the core parts of the micro gas turbine has been made, resulting in the prototype shown in the pictures. The parts of this prototype are currently being produced by the Engineering and Prototyping Center of the TU/e. This development is performed by the Dynamics and Control group of the Mechanical Engineering department at the TU/e.

Micro-CHP system EnerTwin

Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

Conference “Innovations in energy” - Köln, Germany

A Conference organised by Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the 14th

November 2016 in Köln saw a participation of more than 200 attendants, mainly companies and research institutes active in the field of innovative energy processes. The presentation held by Dr. Andreas Huber from DLR was titled “Efficient energy systems – Innovations in power generation and in industrial processes”.

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ASME TURBO EXPO 2017 - June 2017, Charlotte, NC-USA - University of Genoa and National Energy Technology Laboratory (third party) will participate, holding a tutorial session on “Introduction to Dynamic Analysis and Modelling of Plant Systems”, where first results on compressor surge behaviour will be used for explanatory purposes.

ENOC 2017 - European Nonlinear Dynamics Conference - June 2017, Budapest, Hungary Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) will relate on “Nonlinear rotordynamic-thermal analysis of micro gas turbines”.

Biogas – Expo & Congress - Offenburg, Germany

DLR partners partecipated at Biogas held in Offenburg, Germany on the 8th and 9th February 2017. Dr. Andreas Huber, DLR held a presentation titled “High efficient and flexible generation of heat and power – the hybrid power plant”. In the presentation he introduced Bio-HyPP project, objectives and possible applications, as well as first results regarding combined SOFC off gas and MGT combustor.

Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) - Brussels, Belgium

Dr. Andreas Huber, DLR held a presentation titled “Technology challenges for deployment of MGT in distributed generation applications”. EUSEW was held in June 2016.

Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3

• D 2.2: SOFC stack characterization and optimisation (November 2016, M18)

• D 5.4: First Stakeholders’ vision document (November 2016, M18)

• D 2.3: Combined combustion system available (February 2017, M21)

• D 1.6: Innovative Business Model (May 2017, M24)

• D 2.4: Optimised turbomachinery (May 2017, M24)

• D 2.5: SOFC auxiliary component characterisation (May 2017, M24)

• D 3.2: Hybrid system emulation results (May 2017, M24)

Latest & Upcoming Events

Latest and Upcoming Deliverables

Project information Project Coordinator

Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 2

organizzerò

The Consortium

Start date: 1 June 2015End date: 31 May 2019Duration: 48 monthsProject reference: 641073

Andreas Huber

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- undRaumfahrt e.V. (DLR)Pfaffenwaldring 38-4070569 Stuttgart, Germanywww.dlr.de

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation

programme under grant agreement No 641073

www.bio-hypp.eu info@bio-hypp.eu

Bio-HyPP Newsletter Issue 3