Innovations

  • Access to affordable and robust heat exchangers can enable Energy Intensive Industries to achieve impactful decarbonisation steps, increasing their flexibility, resilience and competitiveness. To address this challenge, StreamSTEP will create a multi-phase virtual engineering framework, to assess different heat exchanger technologies and for optimal thermal management.

  • StreamSTEP will deploy a range of innovations to achieve high temperature heat pump usage, including complex, multi-level simulation models and advanced technologies, like heat exchangers and the novel use of ejectors, which can lead to up to 10% reduction in the heat pump’s driving power.

  • StreamSTEP will streamline digital transformation for process industries, through the use of hybrid Digital Twin (HDTs) models, combining data-based and physics-based modelling.

  • StreamSTEP will introduce Hybrid Manufacturing techniques, combining Additive and Smart Manufacturing methodologies to reduce the amount of starting material, minimize cycle times and reduce overall tooling costs.

  • StreamSTEP will deliver a holistic Smart Energy Planning and Management system, which will help deliver data-driven decision-making throughout the production process, influencing operational decisions, business plans and policy-level agreements.

Objectives

Digital Infrastructure

Hybrid Digital Twin Framework

Advanced Manufacturing Strategies

Advanced Heat Exchangers

High Temperature Heat Pumps

Expanded Energy Management System

The project’s Digital Infrastructure offers comprehensive data acquisition solutions for industrial environments, managed and orchestrated through the StreamSTEP middleware platform.

The project will implement a Hybrid Digital Twin Framework (HDTF) to design, operate, and optimize sustainable thermal energy management.

At the core of the HDTF are hybrid-twins, which combine process data with thermophysical models. Each industrial process will have a digital replica used for virtual integration, testing, analysis, and optimization of new heat pump (HP) and heat exchanger (HX) elements.

The middleware integrates simulation environments, planning, and optimisation modules with user-friendly interfaces. The StreamSTEP platform efficiently orchestrates diverse data from multiple sources‑on‑site devices, external platforms, and open‑access databases—while seamlessly connecting models and tools.

Improve heating processes through the development of advanced simulation and optimisation tools

This digital twin of each process will be built using a dynamic simulation environment, comprised of sub-models for different system and module components. These models simulate dynamic behaviour and transient states, such as start‑up, shutdown, and varying conditions, and can integrate control strategies for optimized operations.

The StreamSTEP consortium will develop advanced manufacturing strategies leveraged on customised materials, to support the prototyping of novel HX and HP components.

Boost process efficiency through the deployment of digital infrastructure and sensing solutions

Enable and maximise the flexibility and sustainability of EII process plant operation

Design and deploy Advanced Heat Exchanger (AHX) prototypes

StreamSTEP incorporates different heat exchanger prototypes, facilitated by the Heat Pipe Condensing Economiser (HPCE) innovation developed by StreamSTEP partner, Brunel University London.

Optimise heating exchange (HX) and heat pumps (HP) through the potential of advanced manufacturing techniques

High Temperature Heat Pumps (HTHPs) are used to transfer heat from low to high temperatures with a reduced electrical input.

The StreamSTEP EMS incorporates elements across the planning and operation stages, leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies to support decision‑making through a data‑driven, optimisation‑oriented mindset.
The goal of the EMS is to facilitate Resilient, Sustainable and Intelligent Operations (RES‑IO) across the project’s use-cases.

These strategies include using innovative hybrid manufacturing approaches combining different metal techniques, designing novel alloy compositions to improve thermal efficiency, and optimising components through advanced simulations.

HPCE contains a staggered arrangement of many heat pipes, working in parallel. This state‑of‑the‑art technology will maximise the recovery of heat from challenging exhaust streams and upgrade the heat to usable temperature level by end users.

StreamSTEP will introduce ejector technology in the mix, leveraging simulation techniques to demonstrate the cost and performance of advanced ejectors in industrial settings, and help unleash their potential to the market.

This unique combination is expected to reduce the driving power of heat pumps by up to 10%.

Achieve sustainable thermal management

To achieve this, StreamSTEP’s EMS will incorporate a Thermal Energy Storage Decision Support System (TES‑DSS), different Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (D‑LCAs) modules and a GHG avoidance toolkit, which will serve as a key policy tool to showcase the relevance of StreamSTEP solutions and open the road to Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) and reduced carbon emissions.

Expected Impact

An end-to-end service for sustainable thermal energy optimisation in industrial settings, addressing all stages from project requirement through to operation and maintenance.

Reduce investment cost of high temperature installations

Contribute to REPowerEU’s climate neutrality and fossil fuel independence goals

Increase competitiveness and resilience of the European process industry

Increase energy efficiency for EEIs

Increase process flexibility