In the European process industries large amounts of energy and resources are used to produce millions of tonnes of materials each year. Especially in metal making processes, metallic scraps from end of life goods are recycled and used as secondary raw materials in the processes. Usage of scrap is both ecologically and commercially beneficial, since it reduces the depletion of natural resources like virgin ores and avoids landfills with waste material. Today even more important is that the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the reduction processes of metal ores can be reduced or even totally avoided when using recycled materials as feedstock. However, the metal production facilities are facing an increasing variability in material and energy feedstock. To cope with this challenge, existing metal production plants need to be retrofitted with appropriate sensors for scrap analysis and furnace operation, to cope with the varying conditions of the feedstock regarding materials and energy. Furthermore, the selection of the optimal feedstock in terms of material and energy efficiency has to be improved by application of appropriate process control and decision support tools. Also solid scrap preheating systems can increase the energy efficiency of the melting processes. To monitor and control the process behaviour in an optimal way, model-based software tools have to be developed and applied. The main objective of the REVaMP project is to develop, adapt and apply novel retrofitting technologies to cope with the increasing variability and to ensure an efficient use of the feedstock in terms of materials and energy. This will be exemplarily demonstrated within three different use cases from the metal making industry. Due to the industrial relevance, the use cases were chosen from electric and oxygen steelmaking, aluminium refining and lead recycling. The performance of the different technologies will be assessed, and the benefits will be quantified.

Europe faces the joint challenge of decarbonising ever newer sectors and applications, whilst also seeking clean waste treatment and valorisation pathways. With over 300Mt of waste generated each year, Europe could produce up to 30Mt of clean hydrogen from waste to accelerate the decarbonisation of challenging sectors like aviation and heavy industry. However, exploiting this energy potential remains a challenge and so far, no robust and cost-effective solutions has been successfully commercialised. HYIELD aims to open a new low-cost pathway for clean hydrogen production and waste disposal. The project proposes a novel multi-stage steam gasification and syngas purification plant concept, which will efficiently convert different organic waste streams into hydrogen and is expected to achieve H2 99.97% purity and 62-74% energy conversion efficiency. The concept includes several beyond state-of-the-art innovations, including a novel process design, waste heat exploitation, Water-Gas-Shift membrane reactor, low-pressure metal hydride storage buffer and IA driven digital twin. The solution will be implemented at 3MW scale in a cement plant in Spain, where the hydrogen will be exploited for cement kiln firing. The demonstrator is expected to operate for 4,000h over a 15-month testing period with at least 10 different organic waste streams, treating over 3.9kt of dry material and producing 650t of hydrogen. It will also carry out the groundwork for up-scaling post-project locally and across the EU, working closely with industrial partners from the cement, steel, copper and gas sectors. It is forecasted that the solution will be able to deliver a Levelized Cost of Hydrogen of 2.19€/kg at industrial scale (20,000t/year waste treated), far below current electrolyser pathways (>5.5€/kg). The project is led by a consortium of Europe’s leading research groups, technology developers and industrial players in the hydrogen sector, from Spain, France, Germany, Norway and Luxembourg.