HeatTransPlan

The decarbonisation of industrial process heat is a challenge of the energy transition. In the predominantly fossil-fuel heated temperature range up to 200 °C, which accounts for about 40 % of the process heat demand, there is a barely tapped potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the use of waste heat through heat recovery and heat pumps. A lack of know-how regarding sensible applications and optimal integration points in complex processes as well as variable infrastructures, a lack of technological solutions for the conversion and storage of heat above 100°C, high costs for data collection and concerns regarding process safety are the main reasons for the lack of implementations.

The aim of the research project is therefore to develop a digital decision support system as a central anchor for planning and configuring heat pump storage systems for the resilient and efficient conversion and storage of heat. To reduce the high transaction costs in the data collection necessary for this, methods from process mining are to be applied. On this data basis, the design, integration and layout of heat pump storage systems can be optimised for decision support, taking into account the possible combinations of heat sources and sinks as well as process-related, temporal, spatial and ecological and economic restrictions.

Another goal is the development and construction of a modular and configurable high-temperature storage system on a laboratory scale to ensure a robust and uninterruptible supply. In a virtual production environment, the developed systems are tested in a company-specific and sensitive manner.

Both the storage system and the prototype increments of the decision support system will be implemented in a demonstrator for dissemination, further development and multiplication.