Plenary Lecture
Prof. François Marechal
Since 2011, Prof. François Marechal is heading the Industrial Process and Energy Systems Engineering group in Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Valais-Wallis campus, Switzerland). He holds a Chem eng. (1986) and PhD. degree (1995) from University of Liège (B). He is ranked by [research.com](https://research.com/u/francois-marechal) in the top 10 of the researcher in Switzerland in the field of science and engineering. His main field of research concerns computer aided decision support for the design of integrated processes and energy systems with the focus on the decarbonisation and the systemic integration of renewable energy sources. Prof Marechal is the former head of the energy section of the EFCE and the chief editor of the specialty process and energy systems engineering of the journal frontiers in energy research. He is the president of the scientific committee of the Industry Decarbonisation Priority Research of the French government and serves in the scientific committee of CEA, MinesParisTech and Institut Mines Telecom in France. François Marechal and co-workers have developed a comprehensive superstructure based multi-objective optimisation method to design integrated processes considering life cycle impact assessment metrics. Their pioneering work in sustainable natural gas production have demonstrated the importance of process integration to design efficient processes co-producing heat and methane or other liquid fuels from lignocellulosic materials while demonstrating CO2 capture and the renewable energy storage by integrating electrolysis. […]
On the role of carbon circularity for the energy transition
Reaching net-zero energy system is not just a matter of efficiency and substitution of the fossil resources by renewable energy. The challenge concerns the energy management and the mitigation of the GWP gases emitted by the human activities. Reaching a net-zero emission system means therefore the integration of carbon sequestration and negative emissions technologies in the energy system. In my talk, Carbon Capture Usage and Sequestration will be investigated with a system integration perspective to design the future energy systems. We will in particular discuss the sources of GWP emissions in a renewable based system and in particular the role of the biomass as a source of biogenic carbon as well as renewable energy source. Combined with the CO2 capture and sequestration techniques, we will discuss the role of process and energy system integration of biomass conversion, biorefineries and CCUS technologies. We will discuss the importance of carbon circularity as materials for chemical products and as energy carrier in the system. We will discuss how system integration of innovative technologies like fuel cells, electrolysis and separation technologies will need to be activated to reach the net-zero targets. Finally we will discuss the life cycle environmental impact metrics that can be used to measure the sustainability of the solutions proposed.
Keynote Lectures
Prof. Petar Sabev Varbanov
Prof. Varbanov is the Head of SPIL – Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory, NETME Centre, FME, Brno University of Technology – VUT Brno, Czech Republic. His main fields of activity are energy saving and efficiency, development and implementation of Process Integration, Total Site and regional integration for energy, water and Circular Economy– including retrofit, waste to energy, and wastewater minimisation leading to GHG and water footprints reduction. Petar Varbanov has got PhD in Process Integration from UMIST (now – The University of Manchester, UK) with distinction in 2004, on “Optimisation and Synthesis of Process Utility Systems”, completed in collaboration with Aspentech, Shell Global Solutions, MW Kellog and BP. He has been awarded Dr Habil from the University of Miskolc in February 2020 on the Thesis “Improving the Energy Efficiency and Sustainability of Industrial Sites and Regions”. He is in the final steps of the procedure for awarding the Professor title. He holds the Dr-Habil title from the University of Miskolc – Hungary (2020) and is the Professor from Cracow University of Technology (2023). Dr Varbanov has been twice the Fellow of Marie Curie research grants – an Individual Intra-European Fellowship Grant for 2 y research at Technische Universität Berlin, followed by a grant for going to the University of Pannonia, Hungary, where he served as the Deputy Head of the Centre for Process Integration and Intensification CPI2 until February 2016, when he won the post at SPIL in Brno, Czech Republic. He also collaborated with the Centre for Process Systems Engineering & Sustainability – Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Dr Varbanov is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal “Cleaner Energy Systems”, Subject Editor of the Elsevier journal “Energy – The International Journal”, and the European Editor of the Springer Journal “Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy”. He served as the Managing Guest Editor and Guest Editor of the Journal of Cleaner Production, Energy, Applied Thermal Engineering, Computers and Chemical Engineering. […]
RESHEAT: GHG emission reduction and increased energy security by supporting urban and rural prosumers
It has been reasoned by the authors of this work that the application of the combined power and heat generation for buildings using the RESHeat system contributes simultaneously to GHG emission reduction due to the use of solar energy and to the increase of the security of energy supply due to the use of local generation. A recent collaboration of the Brno University of Technology and the Cracow University of Technology has evaluated the potential for local power generation in an experimental housing estate to satisfy the energy needs from only PV power generation. It was shown that the roof area could be made sufficient to install a highly oversized PV array capable of generating enough power even in the winter period. However, this resulted in an estimated annual excess of PV generation capacity of nearly 8 MWh/y per house. If stored in the summer and then reused in the winter, the excess capacity can be used to either sell the extra power to the market or to reduce the oversizing of the PV arrays. This work takes the initial RESHeat system setup of heat storage and ground heat regeneration, using PV, PVT and solar thermal capture, as a departure point. It evaluates the preliminary technical and economic feasibility of potentially installing electricity storages of several types and at several scales to provide increased energy security and reduced GHG emissions at minimal oversizing of the solar panels (PV, PVT, solar thermal).
Prof. Arjan van Timmeren
Arjan van Timmeren is Full Professor Environmental Technology & Design, within the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment and Department of Urbanism at Delft University of Technology (TUD). The section ETD covers three important fields: the environment (humans and the living environment), technology, and design & integration, grouped around three expertise groups/themes: Territorial Metabolism & CE, Urban Climate, and Biophilic Design and environment related Behavior. Over the years his work has focused on the integration of the concept of sustainable development in the built environment, both in practice and academia, with lately emphasis on Environmental Technology, Urban Metabolism, Circular and Biobased Economy, Green-Blue concepts and Smart cities, and -Citizens. Besides of the TUD chair, among other, Arjan has also been (co-)founding scientific director and, as of September 2020, Principal Investigator at AMS Institute, a joint initiative by TUD, MIT and WUR - Institute for ‘Advanced Metropolitan Solutions’ - in Amsterdam, together with public and private stakeholders and citizen(platforms). As of 2021 he is Scientific Director of Resilient Delta Initiative in Rotterdam, a convergence initiative by TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Erasmus Medical Centre. And he is also the Academic Portfolio Director (APD) Sustainable Cities for the TUD ‘Extension School for Continuing Education’, providing digital education programs. Finally, he has seats in several (inter)national steering groups, quality teams, scientific boards, special issue editorships and is lecturing all over the globe as expert and keynote speaker.
Towards a Circular Built Environment – Lessons from the Netherlands
Rapid urbanization and a growing world population has exerted unsustainable pressures on the environment, exacerbating climate change through unrestrained material usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since the turn of the century, transitioning to a circular economy (CE) has been seen by policy makers as a potential solution for resource scarcity and climate mitigation. A CE aims to keep materials and products performing at their highest performance level using strategies such as recycling, remanufacturing, and reuse. Cities, which possess a high density of human activities, material stock, and waste production, are major contributors to emissions. This is especially true due to the concentration of construction activities in cities – the industry is responsible for 38% of CO2 emissions and 40% energy consumption globally. On the other hand, cities can also facilitate the implementation of circular strategies, thanks to increasing availability of data on space, people, and materials in cities. The transition to such an economy necessitates an understanding of the locations and scales material flows—an endeavour for which we are increasingly equipped due to the rapid digitalization of society. Through harnessing the vast amounts of data now available, we have an unprecedented opportunity to generate insights into our economies’ spatial and material dimensions.
This contribution will focus on giving an insight in actual approaches in the Netherlands regarding the transition towards a ‘Circular Built Environment (CBE)’; “a system designed for closing resource loops at different spatial-temporal levels by transitioning cultural, environmental, economic & social values towards a sustainable way of living (thus enabling society to live within the planetary boundaries)” (CBE-Hub TU Delft, 2023). In the Netherlands, through a government and nation-wide program a CE is aimed for to be reached by 2050. The ambition is to realise this with a variety of stakeholders, with an interim objective of realising a 50% reduction in the use of primary raw materials (minerals, fossils and metals) by 2030. It highlights economic opportunities because of the required transition, instead of emphasizing limitations, while also making the country less dependent on import of scarce raw materials and contributing to a cleaner environment.
This contribution will focus on the built environment. It will do so too, through several recent (European) research projects in which aspects of this were studied, from the scope of the TU Delft CBE Hub. This includes a range of foci, or as the CDE Hub states it a ‘scales to aspects’ range. This implies starting from materials and components, the base ingredients of buildings, to buildings as assemblies of large amount of building products, materials and components, and how they relate to circular performance. One step up, neighbourhood scale represents how circularity currently manifests in specific areas or districts. Cities’ scale explores the most important resource flows that enter, circulate and leave the urban environment every day. Finally, regional scale refers to the characteristic of the urban (or: territorial) metabolism and the importance to investigate economic activities to identify the flows and stocks of materials, products and waste.
Dr. Jaap Vente
Jaap Vente is leading the TNO programmatic approach to assist the industry in their transition to become climate neutral. For this purpose we work together with our clients and partners to generate common visions on the transition pathways and technological solutions. Essential activities within the TNO unit Energy and Materials Transition, include sustainable industrial heat systems, renewable hydrogen production, industrial CO2 capture, sustainable fuels and feedstock based on circularity, biomass and CO2. Before his current function, Jaap was developing and commercializing membrane systems based on an organic-inorganic hybrid silica material and supported dense metals, and sorption based CO2 capture technology for e.g. the steel industry. He is co-author of over 80 scientific publications, and co-inventor of 10 patents. His scientific background lies in materials science, membrane technology and chemical engineering, solid state chemistry.
Future Proof Plastics, Closing the Carbon Loop
In the chemicals industry, polymers are the biggest product group and have a major impact on environment by e.g. CO2 and emissions. In order to meet the CO2 reduction and sustainability targets, a significant effort must be made to make plastics proof.
In this presentation an overview will be given on the various approaches to make plastics future proof. The 4 main approaches are Narrowing the loop, Operating the loop, Slowing the Loop and Closing the Loop. These elements towards transition to future proof plastics transition require actions in legislation & policy, circular chain collaboration, design & development, as well as in Information & education. Examples will be given how TNO enables this transition with technologies and systems integration.
