Research project

TSE Feasibility Study Metal Power Value Chain

Duration
May 2020 - December 2021
Partners
Eindhoven University of Technology

Iron powder burns in air without carbon dioxide emission. The burned iron powder (iron oxide, or rust) can be regenerated back to iron powder using renewable energy. The heat released in the combustion can be used for many applications. Therefore, this innovative technology offers many opportunities for our energy system. The consortium foresees potential use cases in heat intensive industry. high temperature chemical processes, retrofitting coal fired power plants, seasonal storage and energy import.

To further develop and commercialize the technology it is important to gain insight in both the technical as the non-technical aspects involved in market introduction, e.g. product market fit and the value proposition.

For this the consortium initiated this TSE Feasibility study with several industrial partners (stakeholders) to study the commercial, financial, technical and organizational feasibility in a beachhead market application. To achieve this goal the project will gain insight in:
1. Areas of application: can we define a beachhead market and describe the market introduction roadmap.
2. Subsystems: what are the different subsystems in the iron fuel value chain and what boundary conditions should be met to enable the introduction.
3. The value proposition for the subsystems in this beachhead market.
4. The value chain: which companies are active in the value chain and involved in the beachhead market introduction.
5. The technical R&D roadmap to get to the beachhead market.
6. The financial business case behind the value proposition, including the financing requirements towards application.

Participants: Metalot, TU Eindhoven, EMGroup, HeatPower, Veolia, Team SOLID
Supporting companies:Shell, RWE, Uniper

Iron powder burns in air without carbon dioxide emission. The burned iron powder (iron oxide, or rust) can be regenerated back to iron powder using renewable energy. The heat released in the combustion can be used for many applications. Therefore, this innovative technology offers many opportunities for our energy system. The consortium foresees potential use cases in heat intensive industry. high temperature chemical processes, retrofitting coal fired power plants, seasonal storage and energy import.

To further develop and commercialize the technology it is important to gain insight in both the technical as the non-technical aspects involved in market introduction, e.g. product market fit and the value proposition.

For this the consortium initiated this TSE Feasibility study with several industrial partners (stakeholders) to study the commercial, financial, technical and organizational feasibility in a beachhead market application. To achieve this goal the project will gain insight in:
1. Areas of application: can we define a beachhead market and describe the market introduction roadmap.
2. Subsystems: what are the different subsystems in the iron fuel value chain and what boundary conditions should be met to enable the introduction.
3. The value proposition for the subsystems in this beachhead market.
4. The value chain: which companies are active in the value chain and involved in the beachhead market introduction.
5. The technical R&D roadmap to get to the beachhead market.
6. The financial business case behind the value proposition, including the financing requirements towards application.

Participants: Metalot, TU Eindhoven, EMGroup, HeatPower, Veolia, Team SOLID
Supporting companies:Shell, RWE, Uniper

Researchers involved in this project

Photo: Bart van Overbeeke