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Transformation of District Heating
Biomethane, biogas, hydrogen and other technologies allow for the construction of heat, cold, cogeneration and trigeneration for municipal needs as well as industry and processing.
Renewable energy sources as energy sources, mainly photovoltaic panels, even in combination with heat pumps, have their limitations, resulting from the availability of energy, investment costs, and the development area. A solution enabling the transition to a fully zero-emission power supply for a given facility may be renewable energy sources combined with, among others: with cogeneration systems powered by renewable fuel, e.g. biomethane. In addition to cogeneration based on solutions based on combustion processes such as engines, turbines, ORC systems and others, which have their limitations resulting from, among others, due to the need to install emitters, noise generation, limited electrical efficiency, and space requirements, we have at our disposal technologies that meet these limitations, based on fuel cells for parallel production of electricity and heat.
The transformation of heating is largely a local project; synergy may often be the implementation of another energy transformation project nearby, e.g. a biogas project, which can provide energy in the form of heat, gas or electricity to meet the needs of local recipients.
UN data for 2020 indicate that buildings are responsible for 38%. global CO2 emissions (28% of which are emissions from the operation of buildings, i.e. the so-called operational carbon footprint. This means that construction is key to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
Zero operational carbon footprint means nZEB (net Zero Emission Buildings)
A zero energy building is a building with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon dioxide emissions annually. Buildings that produce a surplus of energy during the year can be called "plus-energy". The heat demand is met by systems that obtain, store and manage energy from solar radiation, wind, biomass, geothermal energy or renewable fuels.
Zero-energy buildings are often designed to use energy for two purposes, for example using a refrigerator to make coffee from an espresso machine (dual-function refrigerator), equipping ventilation and air conditioning with heat exchangers, using heat from office machines and computers and high human temperature body to heat the building.
Excess energy is stored in aquifers, in geological wells in both sand and rock substrates, pits filled with gravel and water, or flooded mines.
Production of low-emission hydrogen and fuels
Synthesis gas (syngas) is a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
Syngas can be produced from many sources, including natural gas, coal, biomass or virtually any hydrocarbon feedstock, by reaction with steam or oxygen. Syngas is a key intermediate feedstock for the production of hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels.
Hydrogen production through biomass gasification is a technology that uses a controlled process based on the use of heat, steam and oxygen to convert biomass into hydrogen-rich synthesis gas without combustion. Biomass gasification often occurs at high temperatures (>700 °C).
Biomass in liquid form, such as glycerol, ethanol, methanol and bio-oil, can be used to produce hydrogen-rich syngas in the reforming process. Liquid biomass reforming is similar to the process obtained in natural gas reforming, which is a commonly used hydrogen production technology.
Biomass pyrolysis means gasification of biomass in the absence of oxygen. Hydrogen production by biomass pyrolysis is currently of interest to researchers as a possible alternative to hydrogen production from biomass. Although one of the main products of biomass pyrolysis is bio-oil, which can in turn be pyrolysed or reformed in the temperature range of 450-850°C to produce hydrogen-rich synthesis gas.
Fermentative hydrogen production is a type of anaerobic conversion that involves the conversion of biomass feedstocks with bacteria and protozoa using enzymes. Hydrogen production in the fermentation process is strongly dependent on factors such as the type of microorganisms, carbon source, nitrogen source, pH and reactor temperature.
There is great interest in hydrogen on the Waste-to-Hydrogen market. About 90% of EU waste-to-energy operators declared that they were either already considering production plans or were monitoring the topic closely. This attitude is consistent with the expected high demand in Europe for renewable and low-emission hydrogen in the coming years and proves that hydrogen production may be the direction of development of the Waste-to-Energy business in the area of decarbonization.
The proposal for a new 'EU package to decarbonise hydrogen and gas markets' recognizes the urgent need to adopt all available solutions, especially renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, to accelerate European decarbonisation efforts.
Greater support for hydrogen production will allow the EU industrial sector to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels, including natural gas, in the coming years. Waste-to-energy plants can contribute to hydrogen goals because they are able to generate hydrogen from non-recyclable waste.
POWER TO X (PtX)
The concept of “Power-to-X” involves the activities of taking excess renewable electricity from wind, solar or water and converting it into other energy carriers (“X”) to be able to store energy for later use and absorb energy fluctuations.
The first step in the process is to convert renewable energy into hydrogen (H2) through electrolysis. In the next step There are several different ways to use it further:
Supplying hydrogen to the gas network or producing methane through the process of methanation of hydrogen from CO2 (Power-to-Gas P2G).
Production of ammonia that can be used as fuel (power-to-ammonia, P2A)
Production of synthetic liquid fuels (power-to-liquid, P2L) for use in conventional aircraft and jet engines (Power-to-Liquids).
Power-to-X conversion technologies allow power to be separated from the electricity sector for use in other sectors (such as transportation or chemicals).
Power-to-X concepts provide a simple option, requiring no changes to the vehicles themselves, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in heavy transport vehicles, ships and, above all, air traffic.
Synthetic kerosene made from renewable electricity is a climate-neutral flight fuel.
The future of the Power to X sector depends on the dynamics of renewable energy development, because excess renewable energy is to be transformed into other energy carriers.
Connecting traditionally separated sectors of the energy system, such as electricity, gas, heat and transport, can increase energy efficiency and reduce the costs of network investments. This is known as sector coupling.
The first limitation of the Power-to-X potential is high investment costs.
Another serious limitation is the efficiency resulting from losses in energy conversion into another type of carrier and the availability of renewable energy, which is also increasingly needed by other sectors of the economy, including electromobility and hydrogen production.
The combustion engine in a car actually only converts about 20% of the energy contained in the fuel into motion - the rest is lost as heat. Similarly, power plants run on average at an efficiency of around 40% for converting power from coal to electricity and 60% for converting power from gas to electricity.
Power-to-X technology also generates heat, so using electricity from a battery gives more kilometers per kilowatt than converting it into hydrogen and then feeding it to a fuel cell.
If hydrogen is synthesized into gas or diesel fuel, even more energy is lost, and this happens before the inherently inefficient internal combustion engine starts operating. This means that fueling a passenger car with synthetic diesel oil is energy-defying. Hence, the task of synthetic fuels is to reduce the carbon footprint of ships and planes, especially those already built to run on fossil versions of these fuels - vehicles that may continue to operate for another 30 years.
Power-to-X can provide fuel for heavy transport, ships, trucks and planes that have limitations or cannot currently use electricity and batteries. Additionally, Power-to-X is important for ensuring the production of many things that are currently produced from fossil resources, such as medicines, plastics and paints.
CCU – Carbone Capture and Utilisation
Currently, about 230 Mt of CO2/year is used as a raw material in the world every year, mainly for the production of fertilizers (about 125 Mt/year) and for increased oil extraction (about 70-80 Mt/year), but also in the chemical industry in general.
Other commercial uses of CO2 include: food and beverage production, refrigeration, water treatment and greenhouses.
New ways of using CO2 include:
fuels (using carbon in CO2 to convert hydrogen into synthetic hydrocarbon fuel - Power to X described above);
chemicals (using carbon in CO2 as an alternative to fossil fuels in the production of certain chemicals);
Building materials (using CO2 in the production of building materials to replace water in concrete or as a raw material in its ingredients).
CCU/S for Blue Hydrogen Production enables emission reductions of >95%. By 2030, it is expected that 33% of global hydrogen production will have decarbonization installations.
Cement production is responsible for approximately 6.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. In 2021, a project to decarbonize large cement production plants in Norway was launched (approximately 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year), setting the direction for decarbonization of this industry.
The European CO2 Storage project was also launched in geological structures located under the seabed, where captured carbon dioxide can be permanently and safely stored.
One of the technologies in development is capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and directly using it to produce building materials.
Green-en offer for other "green projects"
Providing the best locations for the indicated technology using intelligent GIS algorithms, according to personalization of parameters defined by the investor, depending on their availability in Poland, or
Analysis of the indicated location for the implementation of energy transformation investments.
The right to land under defined conditions.
Technological concept in cooperation with leading technology offices for both the indicated technology and the selection of optimal solutions for the indicated location.
Full pre-design documentation, including environmental documentation, necessary connection conditions for utilities, easements, access and any other necessary to implement the investment in a given location.
Full legal service of the process, with protection of regulatory risks.
Conducting the required planning transformations and obtaining administrative approvals necessary to start the investment, including building permits.
Other required support from the investor or land owner.
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