Objective
A first initial meeting was organized at the Global HeadQuarters of AB-InBev to share and exchange knowledge and experiences of the management of the three LIFE projects. Moreover, an exploratory discussion was held to determine if a cooperation between the different projects was feasible. LIFE OPTIMELT’s project focusses on a new technology to produce glass. As our team at GITeC contains glass specialists, and innovative projects about glass are running, a mutual interest was found. For the management of the LIFE projects three main topics were discussed: Technical progression, Communication activities and Administrative and Financial management.
People
In this meeting three LIFE projects were present to share their knowledge about the progression of their LIFE project. The LIFE BEVERAGE project was represented by Wim Hermans, a global process development specialist. Liesbeth Derde, Global Product and Raw Material Specialist represented the LIFE REFRESHMENT project. The LIFE OPTIMELT project had two representatives: Jordy Bel, Technical Management Trainee and Marc Kruizinga, Decision Support Manager.
LIFE OPTIMELT
We met the representatives of the LIFE OPTIMELT PROJECT (LIFE15 CCM/NL/000121) in the LIFE kick-off meeting at EASME in October 2016 The LIFE OPTIMELT project wants to demonstrate a new technology which enables several industry which use high temperatures for manufacture, such as the glass industry, to use less energy, emit less CO2 and NOx and lower the operational costs. This technology is based on an innovative waste heat recovery concept called “Thermo- Chemical Regenerator (TCR)” The main technological innovation of the TCR process occurs in the reforming cycle where a portion of the cooled flue gas (approximately 30%) is recycled back (recycled flue gas, RFG) to the bottom of an already pre-heated regenerator and mixed with a reforming fuel (e.g. CH4). The RFG/CH4 mixture is heated by the hot checker. When the gas mixture is heated above a certain temperature various endothermic reactions occur. An example of these type of reactions is CH4 which is reformed by CO2 and H2O in the RFG to form CO and H2. The reformed gas or “syngas” has higher energy content than natural gas that is merely preheated. The gas is subsequently combusted with oxygen, thus providing thermal energy for glass melting. About 50–60% of the energy in the flue gas can be recovered and returned to furnace.
Meeting report
The meeting started with an introduction session in where the representatives of the three projects presented their project. The overall progression, technical overview and timing of the project were highlighted. In the introduction session it became clear which topics should be discussed in the next part of the meeting.
In the first part of the meeting LIFE BEVERAGE project presented the progress report as was send to EASME in January 2017. LIFE OPTIMELT and LIFE REFRESHMENT were drafting their progress report at the time, so they were eager to learn about the report and the feedback of the EC. LIFE BEVERAGE and LIFE REFRESHMENT were busy to improve on two activities: Financial Management and Communication activities. For this reason we were really interested in how LIFE OPTIMELT is currently managing these very important pillars of the LIFE project.
After this introduction session, the way of working was discussed for every project. Since we are currently busy at the LIFE REFRESHMENT and LIFE BEVERAGE project to improve our financial management and the communication and dissemination activities, we were very interested to learn how LIFE OPTIMELT deals with that and how we can improve our own practice. Concrete tips were exchanged between the different LIFE project to improve the overall communication of the project, for example how to proceed with the open tendering procedure and document all the finances and different stages in the tendering procedure. The LIFE BEVERAGE project already submitted a first progress report, and LIFE OPTIMELT will submit its first report at the end of June. Information about the build-up, pitfalls, structure etc. of the progress report were shared with LIFE OPTIMELT to help them ensure the best possible version.
Conclusions
This first initial meeting was very successful. We learned a lot from each other and exchanged concrete tips about the financial management and the dissemination activities. We will keep in contact with each other (for questions, possible future collaborations etc…) and are already invited to their ‘formal opening event’ of the new factory and the new OPTIMELT technology on September 15th,2017.
