by cidaut | May 12, 2020 | Energy
The CIEMAT Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Unit together with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MINCOTUR) organized a conference on Biofuels in Spain on February 26 within the framework of the European project BIOFIT (Bioenergetic Retrofitting of the European Industry). CIDAUT had the opportunity to attend the conference and share experiences with the attendees.
The purpose of this conference was also to create a forum for discussion between the different actors linked to this sector, public and private, and to promote the implementation and development of biofuels to achieve the objectives established in the PNIEC, among others.
It was attended by A. Cros, representative of MINCOTUR who spoke about the Financial Support Instruments for the biofuel industry, F.J Dominguez of IDAE who presented the regulatory framework for the production and use of biofuels and J. Ferrero, representative of MITECO, who exposed the role of biofuels in the PNIEC.
Within the framework of the conference there were other very interesting presentations on the importance of sustainable biofuels in aviation by AESA and biofuels in 2030 and the Green Deal by BIOPLAT. The present and the future of biofuels in Spain were discussed by APPA and an ePURE representative offered his vision of the bioethanol situation in Europe. The president of the BIO-E association spoke about the economic and environmental benefits of the use of bioethanol and, on the part of CCAE, he presented about bioeconomics and agricultural development linked to biofuels.
SNPAA (France) discussed aid plans in the biofuels sector in that country and AOP and ANFAC discussed about the opportunities for the oil industry and biofuels for the automotive industry respectively. Finally, Novozymes company spoke about the biorefineries associated with biofuels and their possibilities.
The day was a success since the capacity was completed with an attendance of more than 170 people. The welcome of the initiative by the sector that had not had a meeting point for a long time was highlighted and BIOE was summoned to turn the event into an annual periodic appointment.
by cidaut | Mar 12, 2020 | Energy
The European Commission presented the European Green Deal on Wednesday (11 December 2019), outlining the main policy initiatives for reaching net-zero global warming emissions by 2050 and Hydrogen will be a key instrument for meeting the Green Deal objectives.
In this sense, several events are taking place in Europe to promote and develop hydrogen-based technologies and CIDAUT has attended two of them.
Following the launch of the 2020 Call for proposals, the FCH JU held its annual Info Day in Brussels on 27 January 2020.
The Programme Officers introduced the various call topics on transport pillar, energy pillar and cross-cutting area. Rules for participation, call conditions and evaluation were presented. In addition, it was given advice for a good approach according to the evaluators’ vision, as well as a review on communication and dissemination of results. It was finally made an introduction to Hydrogen Europe Industry and Research and some National Contact Points.
The event gathered almost 400 participants from across Europe, both on site and online. The deadline for submitting the proposals is 21 April 2020.
Following on hydrogen in Europe, CIDAUT has participated in the HyVolution event that took place on February 4-5 2020 at the Parc Floral de Paris. The two-day show provided an opportunity for meetings, discussions and business appointments, where all the players involved in the field of hydrogen were able to present their range of offers to the sector’s developers and decision-makers: products, services and applications for production, storage, distribution, gas-related technologies, etc. Some 120 exhibitors and brands were present at the show. The aim was to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen solutions by bringing together players from every potential market.
This year HyVolution 2020 hosted the third plenary session of the Hydrogen Valleys Partnership, attended by regional and European delegations. CIDAUT, as co-coordinator of the Working Group of Production, Transport and Storage participated in the plenary meeting and presented several pitches of project ideas, one of them developed by CIDAUT.
The plenary session was attended by FCHJU director Bart Biebuyck and Christian Weinberger of DG GROW who offered their vision on the future of innovation and financing in Hydrogen in Europe.
by cidaut | Mar 12, 2020 | Energy
As a perfect ending of the Interreg-Poctep MOVBIO project, two closing events were held, one on each side of the border Spain-Portugal during the past month of December 2019.
On the Portuguese side, the closing event of the MOVBIO project took place in Guimarães on December 12, in which the main results and conclusions of the work developed during the project were presented.
Portuguese partners (CVR and AEdoAVE) showed the results of the work carried out during the last two and a half years. These results referred to the study of energy needs in the area of cooperation, the role of pruning of biomass as an energy resource and the analysis of current pruning biomass management models compared to more environmentally and financially sustainable ones. On behalf of CIDAUT, the pruning biomass observatory available on the project website (www.movbio.eu) was presented.
In Spain, it was on December 17 when the final dissemination of results of the MOVBIO project took place in the auditorium of the D.O. Rueda, in Rueda (Valladolid).
During the workshop, CIDAUT, as project coordinator, presented the main conclusions obtained from the project and Itacyl explained the study of pruning biomass potential carried out, as well as the conclusions of good practices obtained from the project. In addition, it was possible to see first-hand the initiatives that Somacyl is carrying out in the use of vine pruning as fuel for its thermal and electrical generation plants.
Finally, during both events, the manual of good practices for the viable collection of pruning biomass was distributed among the attendees.
by cidaut | Jan 9, 2020 | Energy
Hydrogen is an essential key in Europe’s energy transition and its efforts to cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change. It is therefore expected to play an important role in the European Commission’s Green Deal. The FCH sector is also a valuable source of future jobs and growth in a green economy and CIDAUT is focused on this strategy.
Different events have taken place in Brussels at the end of November in relation to hydrogen technologies and fuel cells. CIDAUT had the opportunity to be there.
Programme Review Days 2019
The Programme Review Days (PRD) 2019 took place on the 19th and 20th of November in Brussels preceding the FCH JU Stakeholder Forum on the 21st of November
The Programme Review Days, organised annually, aims to provide an overview on the progress of the FCH JU funded projects. It constitutes an excellent visibility platform for the projects and the technological developments achieved in the sector and provides networking opportunities for the participants.
A number of 27 projects and 3 studies as well as other FCH JU initiatives, were featured this year, gathered around the following main sessions: Hydrogen for Sectoral Integration, Fuel Cell Applications for Energy, Fuel Cell Applications for Transport and Support for Market Uptake.
FCH JU Awards 2019
The Awards were presented at a ceremony at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels on 20 November 2019, attended by about 300 industry, research and EU representatives. The winners were chosen by public vote, which mobilised the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen community around the 24 nominees – 12 for each category (success stories and innovation).
This year’s Best Success Story, ‘Driving forward fuel cell technologies’, is looking at a series of projects (VOLUMETRIQ, INSPIRE, CRESCENDO, GAIA and PEGASUS) which are making fuel cells more affordable and competitive.
“These projects are delivering results that enable Europe to be a leader in the fuel cell technology and have a strong impact on the clean energy transition. The aim is to pry open market potential, ensuring a greener future for the EU’s transport sector” said FCH JU’s Executive Director Bart Biebuyck.
BIG HIT project was presented with a special award for Best Outreach Hydrogen achievements in Scotland (Orkney Islands).
Stakeholder Forum 2019
“The green energy transition is not an option but a necessity. I see a pivotal role for clean hydrogen…it is an area where Europe is still leading. Why not extend the lead on something that could be one of the most important solutions for clean energy?” said Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, in the opening session of the 2019 Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) Stakeholder Forum, on 21st November. ‘The most important thing is that you help us to find ways to make relatively quick successes to show people that it works’ continued Timmermans,” addressing the forum – energy and climate experts from industry, research, EU institutions and local and regional authorities.
Discussions among more than 500 Forum participants in Brussels’ Charlemagne building focused on how to tackle the remaining hurdles to deployment, the importance of promoting an innovation culture in activating new markets, and the impact of synergies and international scale-up efforts on growth and jobs. Delegates explored the latest developments in the sector, showing how Europe is capitalising on new FCH developments and forging ahead towards a zero-emission economy.
Participants could also download the event app to stay up date with the conference programme and also join us on social media by following @fch_ju on Twitter – #PRD2019 #SF2019 #CleanHydrogen.
S3P HYDROGEN VALLEYS Working Groups
And to close the week, CIDAUT attended the meetings organized by the S3P Hydrogen Valleys working groups that took place on Friday the 22th November.
The working groups have been organized based on themes that arouse common interests for the development of interregional projects. Thus, CIDAUT as a representative and supporting the region of Castilla y León attended the meetings of the Hydrogen Production, Transportation and Storage groups, as well as Mobility uses. The objective of these groups is the approach of projects in the different themes that can be presented at the Hyvolution event that will take place on February 4 in Paris. CIDAUT will co-coordinate Production working group with Aragon Hydrogen Foundation and University of Bologna.
by cidaut | Jan 9, 2020 | Energy
The past 14th November 2019, VALORCOMP consortium met in CIDAUT facilities to monitor all its activities before the end of the year. As usual and close to the end of the project, representatives from the entire consortium attended the meeting: Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB, Principal Beneficiary), CIDAUT Foundation, University of Valladolid (UVa), Resíduos do Nordeste (RN) and Nertatec.
The Coordination commission started the meeting with the objective of evaluating common management aspects. The most significant data was the project request extension agreement until mid-2020 with the objective of disseminating the results of the project. For this purpose, two workshops were agreed, one in Valladolid (Spain) in March 2020 and the other in Mirandela (Portugal) organized by Residuos do Nordeste in April 2020. The project is scheduled to close in June 2020 at the facilities of IPB.
Within the Technical commission, the main objective of the meeting was to share the progress in each of the aspects compost use under study in the framework of the project. CIDAUT presented the results obtained in the pelletization and gasification tests in the pilot plant. Pelletization shows very satisfactory results. The gasification results are under evaluation, but a priori it seems that the low quality of the compost causes the gas obtained to have limited applications. Combustion test in updraft boiler are pending.
IPB presented the conclusions of the adsorption process modeling for CO2 separation using activated carbon from activity 2. The results of compost carbonization were also shown using two different techniques: hydrotreatment (HTC) and functional carbonization using TEOS and EDTA. Activity 2 concluded with the advances in the use of compost in construction materials and the results of temperature tests.
Within the framework of agronomic valorization in activity 3, the UVA presented the results of the technical-economic balance of the nutrient extraction process studied. On this activity, IPB showed a final review of the characterization of the leachates obtained in the Residuos do Nordeste plant to be used as fertilizer.
Nertatec presented the tools developed in activity 4. Two simple tools have been developed for the evaluation of compost quality as a fertilizer and as a fuel for energy use based on the characteristics of the compost. Work is being done on these tools in order to show them to the administrations and entities interested in the project workshops that will be held next year.
Finally to conclude the meeting it was made a visit to the combustion test facilities in CIDAUT. This experimental pilot plant will be used to carry out the combustion test for thermal valorization of compost. The purpose of the visit was to show VALORCOMP members the test capabilities of CIDAUT and the facilities for such test.
by cidaut | Jan 9, 2020 | Energy
The consortium team of the project “User empowerment for intelligent management of energy and indoor air quality through innovative forms of consumption and control” (ENERUSER) ” held its Kick-Off meeting in the “Lucía” building of Valladolid University on Nov 6th.
Representatives of all the partners attended the meeting with the presence of the Construction Institute of Castilla y León (ICCL, Main Beneficiary), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), Natural Heritage Foundation of Castilla y León (FPNCYL), Municipality of Bragança, National Federation of Energy Promoters (FENAGE) and CIDAUT Foundation.
The main objective of the project is to propose a change in the form of energy consumption and control in homes, as well as air quality. Results will have a significant impact on climatic change and they will come through new consumption habits and citizen empowerment on energy control.
An innovative energy control methodology will be developed, specializing in housing and social rent. Two pilot buildings will be analysed, monitored and evaluated, thus resulting in proven models and solutions that could be applied in the development of near zero energy buildings.
The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the programme of cooperation INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 and will be further developed until June 2021.
