IEC 61499 projects
DREAM
Design for Resource and Energy Efficiency in cerAMic klins
Abstract
The DREAM project aims to design, develop and demonstrate a radically improved architecture for ceramic industrial furnaces, characterised by optimised energy consumption, reduced emissions, and lower operating costs compared to currently available technological solutions. This will be obtained by substantially enhancing specific furnace parts (control system, refractories, emissions abatement system) and by adding new modules and sub-systems (CHP unit, heat pipes) to the current furnace architecture.DREAM Specific objectives will be:
- To design innovative hardware furnace components improving energy efficiency (biofuel-fed CHP unit, heat pipes, emission abatement system)
- To introduce substantial improvements on current hardware-software kiln parts (kiln control tool, refractory materials)
- To test the DREAM solutions in a variety of industrial settings (retrofitting and pilot kiln demonstrators)
- To pave the way for a full seizure of DREAM related market opportunities (dissemination, exploitation within the ceramic sector and market replication)
DREAM will develop and demonstrate technologies enabling a significant advancement in the sustainability of ceramics processes, implementing 5 synergic lines of research and 3 industrial demonstrators, which will act as technological showcases for market deployment. Such approach will enable to advance, in the five lines of research, from TRL4 to TRL6.
DREAM will strongly contribute to both the sustainability and competitiveness of the European ceramics and process industries. In particular, the DREAM technologies will earn an overall 20% OPEX and energy consumption reduction for industrial furnaces, with an average investment payback time for end users lower than 3 years.
The DREAM coordinator and industrial partners are technology and market leaders in the ceramics equipment field, and this will streamline the translation of the DREAM research results into successful products and services.
Objectives
O1 - To design innovative hardware furnace components improving energy efficiencyIn order to optimise the firing process energy consumption, DREAM will integrate state-of-the art technological solutions which have never been applied to the ceramics industry, and which will represent a significant upgrade to the current practice in the sector.
O2 - To introduce substantial improvements on current hardware-software kiln parts
Besides adding new features to currently available furnaces, DREAM will also bring in innovation on
specific key kiln components, in order to integrate within the very same furnace architecture new features
and pioneering configuration of existing technologies
O3 - To demonstrate the DREAM solutions in a variety of industrial settings
The attainment of the five DREAM technological objectives will enable the development of three industrial
demonstrators, which will aim to test the solutions in real industrial cases. Demonstration activity will
enable to confirm the expected DREAM-related process enhancements, quantified in an overall 20,1%
energy consumption reduction, 19,9% OPEX reduction, 18,7% CAPEX reduction, 26,1% CO2 emissions
reduction, at least 30% other pollutants (including CO, NOx and SOx) reduction, and 10% scrap reduction.
O4 - To pave the way for a full seizure of DREAM related market opportunities
The DREAM project will include a set of activities aimed to ensure that the research results are fully
exploited by all partners, according to their respective market/community/audience.
Results
DREAM research activities will result into 4 industrial demonstrators, aiming to showcase the innovations delivered for market replication.Demonstrator 1 – Retrofitting for better insulation and lower emissions (KERABEN)
Demonstration activities will be aimed at testing the materials retrofitting solutions based on emissivity coatings and the innovative emissions abatement system prototype against the expected performance improvement parameters.
Demonstrator 2 – Retrofitting for more accurate process control and more efficient heat transfer (MIRAGE)
Demonstration activities will be aimed at testing the innovative prototypical kiln control tool and the prototypical heat pipe installation for heat transfer from the kiln cooling zone to the drying machines against the expected performance improvement parameters.
Demonstrator 3 – Pilot kiln equipped with innovative refractory materials (SACMI)
Demonstration activities will be aimed at testing the innovative refractories based on opacifiers and foamed materials against the expected performance improvement parameters.
Demonstrator 4 – New kiln equipped with CHP unit (EMILCERAMICA)
Demonstration activities will be aimed at testing the prototypical CHP unit installation including a test using biomethane to show the integration of renewables into the combustion system.
IEC 61499
One of the objectives is to adapt dynamically the energy consumption of the kiln, based on variations of the kiln productivity, e.g. due to maintenance operations, change of batch production, programmed production stops or empty upstream “tiles buffer”.
Another relevant objective of the project is the design of a scalable methodology for defining the overall sustainability of the kiln system, both at unit-level and considering the boundaries flows incoming and outgoing form the kiln.
The IEC 61499 technology will therefore be adopted by the project in the development of the control and monitoring algorithm for the ceramic kiln, in order to guarantee the ability to manage the dynamic reconfiguration needs and the to communicate with other parts of the overall system.
Consortium
Contacts
Project Coordinator: SACMI
Gabriele Frignani - gabriele.frignani AT sacmi.it