AHEAD provides a solution for the large demand for environmentally friendly heat supply of industrial processes. 48% of the process heat demand is below 200 °C and is mainly created by using natural gas. The AHEAD project will replace natural gas with an innovative, steam-generating heat pump system from the company Sustainable Process Heat, which is combined with steam compressors to generate steam at 11 bar(a)/184°C.
The AHEAD system is operated for at least 4000 hours. The aim is to achieve 52% final energy savings, and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 1900 t/a, and to prepare a concept for the dissemination of the AHEAD system for Takeda sites in Vienna and worldwide. Furthermore, the decarbonisation potential of this technology for the main sectors (paper, chemical and petrochemical, food) in Austria will be investigated.
The innovations of this project are the steam-generating heat pump, which is designed to use natural refrigerants and combined with steam compressors to achieve the highest heat utilisation temperatures to date.
Report on the AHEAD project on Futurezone.at: Über 200 Grad: Neuartige Wärmepumpe ersetzt Erdgas in Pharmafirma (futurezone.at)