FEM-IoT - Fostering the Emerging Market of Internet of Things

El projecte FEM-IoT ha estat impulsat per dotze centres de recerca i universitats de Catalunya capdavanters en la creació de solucions i tecnologies IoT, entre els quals hi ha l’IREC. L'objectiu de l’agrupació FEM-IoT és impulsar la transferència i la recerca en l’àmbit de la Internet de les Coses (IoT) com un camp estratègic i de gran potencial dins del sector TIC.

La visió de l’agrupació és esdevenir una plataforma de laboratori per la recerca i la innovació en els elements d’infraestructura intel·ligent de ciutat i tots els serveis de valor afegit resultants.

En el marc de la iniciativa FEM-IoT s’impulsen dos projectes de recerca, i en els que participa l’IREC, per treballar conjuntament els reptes de futur de la IoT a Catalunya, concretament en l’àmbit de les ciutats intel·ligents.

El primer projecte, anomenat “Infraestructures de Carrer Connectat”(P1), té la finalitat de dissenyar una arquitectura global i integrada que tingui la capacitat de donar resposta a totes les necessitats de connectivitat i serveis d’una ciutat intel·ligent. Concretament, el projecte analitzarà com aquest model d’infraestructura pot donar cabuda als requeriments de mobilitat i latència dels vehicles connectats. A més a més, a part de treballar per reduir la fragmentació de les solucions existents, el projecte també desenvoluparà tecnologies de baix consum com a base per connectar els milers de dispositius que es preveuen desplegar a les ciutats del futur.

Results of the implementation of SNG catalyst at demo plant for renewable gas production

The role of IREC, as an expert in the Advanced Materials for the Industrial Energy Transition, in the Llavor project " Scale-up the manufacture of catalysts to obtain renewable natural gas" for potential commercialization concludes with the results of the manufacturing process that was optimized and adapted to the industrial manufacturing processes.
The performance of the product was successfully validated at a biogas methanation pilot-scale plant at a wastewater treatment plant (Sabadell, Spain) in collaboration with Naturgy. Recently, the catalyst has been delivered for its evaluation in a microstructured methanation unit of carbon dioxide from direct-air-capture at Energy Lab 2.0 (Karlsruhe, Germany), led by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and supported by INERATEC GmbH. Following the upscaling strategy, the new demonstration plant has a capacity 7-fold larger than the previous one.

The product is specially designed for renewable gas production by the combination of a CO₂ emission sources and renewable hydrogen using microstructured reactors. The combination of advanced catalysts and compact reactors has several technical advantages over the traditional ones.

The Catalan’ Government’s Agency for Management and of University and Research Grants (Agencia de Gestió i Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) has awarded this the project with a Llavor grant. The project had been a duration of 6 months, ended November 30, 2019, and was funded of 20,000 euros and  co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development fund (ERDF) and supported by the Secretary of Universities and Research of the Ministry for Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia.

The MEDNICE project has come to an end, but the Efficient Buildings Community will go on as a new project

On October 2019, MEDNICE, the Horizontal Project that established the Efficient Buildings Community has finished, nevertheless the Efficient Buildings Community will continue consolidating the achievements of the last three years and will approach new challenges for the Mediterranean regions. The main outcomes of the Community were presented and discussed during the MEDNICE’s final conference MED – Mediterranean Energy Debate held on 10^th October in Brussels, during the European Week of Regions and cities.

The MEDNICE project and Efficient Buildings Community, with the 10 Modular Projects under its umbrella, were created to support Public Administration in the transformation of Public Buildings in more efficient buildings, specifically in the Mediterranean regions. The Community brought together local, regional and national stakeholders to exchange methodologies, experiences and tools.

As main outcomes of MEDNICE they would be highlighted the technical capitalization of the results of the Modular Projects, which approached the efficiency improvement of public buildings from different perspective. In this framework, IREC systemized, analyzed and harmonized the knowledge thus generated in four technical papers in order to find technical answers to common issues as Financing schemes and barriers, Methodologies, tools and indicators, Training methodologies and capacity gaps, and Lessons learned.

On the other hand, two policy papers based on the technical results and direct experiences of the Modular Projects have been introduced, providing some policy recommendations about effectively promoting Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings in the MED area, from Financing and Key Information points of view.

Finally, it should be highlighted too the Manifesto for a Mediterranean Building Renovation, introducing key recommendations for public authorities

El IREC investiga en sistemas flexibles de tri-generación basados en bombas de calor para la transición energética: el proyecto H2020 TRI-HP

El objetivo general del proyecto TRI-HP es el desarrollo y ensayo de sistemas de tri-generación (producción simultánea de energía: electricidad, calor y refrigeración a partir de una sola fuente de calor) energéticamente eficientes, flexibles y viables económicamente. Esta investigación permitirá abastecer hasta un 80% del consumo, a edificios residenciales plurifamiliares, basándose en bombas de calor a base de  refrigerantes naturales con generación renovable y la utilización de acumulación en hielo, calor y baterías para suministrar calefacción, refrigeración y electricidad renovable a edificios residenciales. El proyecto pretende reducir los costes de instalación de estos sistemas en un 10-15% en comparación con los sistemas actuales basados en bombas de calor.