Techno-Economic Analysis of Rural 4th Generation Biomass District Heating

Biomass heating networks provide renewable heat using low carbon energy sources. They can be powerful tools for economy decarbonization. Heating networks can increase heating efficiency in districts and small size municipalities, using more efficient thermal generation technologies, with higher efficiencies and with more efficient emissions abatement technologies. This paper analyzes the application of a biomass fourth generation district heating, 4GDH (4th Generation Biomass District Heating), in a rural municipality. The heating network is designed to supply 77 residential buildings and eight public buildings, to replace the current individual diesel boilers and electrical heating systems. The development of the new fourth district heating generation implies the challenge of combining using low or very low temperatures in the distribution network pipes and delivery temperatures in existing facilities buildings. In this work biomass district heating designs based on third and fourth generation district heating network criteria are evaluated in terms of design conditions, operating ranges, effect of variable temperature operation, energy efficiency and investment and operating costs. The Internal Rate of Return of the different options ranges from 6.55% for a design based on the third generation network to 7.46% for a design based on the fourth generation network, with a 25 years investment horizon. The results and analyses of this work show the interest and challenges for the next low temperature DH generation for the rural area under analysis

Conferencia inaugural

Tomo I ; págs. 1-1

The Ammonia Looping System for Mid-Temperature Thermochemical Energy Storage

Thermochemical reactions have a great potential for energy storage and transport. Their application to solar energy is of utmost interest because the possibility of reaching high energy densities and seasonal storage capacity. In this work, thermochemical energy storage of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) based on an ammonia looping (AL) system is analysed. The AL process for energy storage is based on the reversible reaction of ammonia to produce hydrogen and nitrogen. Concentrating solar energy is used to carry out the decomposition endothermic reaction at temperatures around 650 ºC, which fits in the range of currently commercial CSP plants with tower technology. The stored energy is released through the reverse exothermic reaction. Our work is focused on energy integration in the system modelled by pinch analysis to optimize the process performance and competitiveness. As result a novel configuration is derived which is able to recover high-temperature heat for electricity production with a thermal-to-electric efficiency up to 27 %. The current study shows a clear interest of the system from an energy integration perspective. Further research should be conducted to access the potential for commercial applications

A look at the games and toys of yesterday. Intergenerational encounter between grandparents and grandchildren for the recovery of educational heritage

El patrimonio histórico educativo forma parte del patrimonio cultural de la humanidad. Conscien-tes de ello, muchos son los trabajos que, especialmente en la última década, están contribuyendo al estudio, investigación, recuperación, puesta en valor y difusión de la memoria y el patrimonio de la educación. En este artículo, la preocupación por sensibilizar a los más pequeños de la socie-dad en la salvaguarda y conservación del patrimonio histórico educativo nos lleva a describir una experiencia didáctica consistente en el diseño e implementación de un encuentro intergeneracional entre niños/as y abuelos/as, desarrollado en el marco universitario desde el Museo Pedagógico de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad de Sevilla. Se trata de una práctica pedagógica concebida para que pequeños y mayores intercambien pensamientos, vivencias y sen-timientos, relacionados con los juegos y juguetes del ayer. Todo ello, con la intención de reconocer la importancia que tiene propiciar oportunidades didácticas que contribuyan a reconocer que tanto los juegos, como los juguetes del pasado, son una parte importante de nuestra herencia patrimonial histórico educativa.The educational heritage is part of the cultural heritage of humanity. In the last decade, there are many trials that are contributing to the study, research, recovery, valorisation and dissemination of memory and heritage education. This article describes a teaching experience in the design and implementation of an intergenerational encounter between children and grandparents, developed from the Pedagogical Museum of the Faculty of Education at the University of Seville. The expe-rience is to sensitize younger members of the society in safeguarding and preservation of historical heritage education. This is a pedagogical practice designed for young and old alike to exchange thoughts, experiences and feelings related to yesterday games and toys. The intention is to recog-nize the importance of promoting educational opportunities that contribute to recognize that both games, and toys of the past, are an important part of our historical and education heritag

How to share lessons learned. Case study to a Telecommunication Project: fiber optic deployment FTTH in Bogotá (Colombia)

This presentation share the lessons learned regarding Project Management best practices during the development of a Telecommunication Project: fiber deployment FTTH in Bogotá (Colombia). The target of the program is to roll-out a fiber network to the Home (FTTH) in all the “Gran Bogotá” (Colombia) in order to develop NPLAY services. It includes the engineering design, construction, development and delivery of a fiber network for 10 million of houses. The investment has been of $400 million during five years and a direct team of 2.500 people has been involved. The project has been funded by the public administration and the dialogue between stakeholders has been one of the most important issues considering the big number of them and their importance: the owner of the project (ETB company); different types of manufactures for the different technologies (power equipment’s, transmission components, switching, IPTV platforms, civil works); local authorities (the collaboration was needed to manage all types of licenses); project management team; project team; consultants or labor unions between others. The first phase of the project had the target to cover 10K homes. The development was done during June 2013. This communication describes the methodology used, the main results and the main conclusions of this first phase of the project so far. In order to share the knowledge and to improve for the next phase of the project an interesting methodology was used. Seven workshops were conducted during three days about seven key areas: Engineering, design, deployment, supervision, licenses, logistics and internal relations. Workshops were aimed at promoting dialogue between all participants and taking into account stakeholders particular interests, identifying opportunities for improvement, causes of problems and proposed solutions for each area. Every improvement actions have been classified according to a taxonomy element indicating how the project works. Those actions have been analysed and structured so that each area has identified a small number of "key ideas". Finally 84 “key ideas” were found and have been classified according to their impact and its viability as a component for prioritization and analysis. Those “key ideas” for each area and the methodology used to prioritize them will be presented in the extended communication. Additionally, a risk analysis was done at the beginning of the project and it was controlled during the development. Specific methodology used and the most important risks presented will be analysed and considered as well. From a point of view of the Project Management there were very interesting conclusions to be applied during the second phase of the project (deployment FTTH to a bigger number of houses) during all the project management processes: initiation, planning, execution, control and termination. Finally, another important issue for the Project Management was the indicators used for the scorecard. Those indicators and their evolution during the project will be as well presented. Those indicators should allow to control the benefits of the deployment daily, weekly and monthly. It is also important the definition of the type of dashboard for the different level of information at a Governance vision of the program. As a main conclusion of this real experience, all the information presented will contribute to the project management in two ways. Firstly, understanding the process conducted that helped to acquire and put in common knowledge and lessons learned at the end of the first phase of the project and particularly the necessity of involving stakeholders from the very beginning and during the process. Secondly, emphasizing the importance of transmitting and extending critical knowledge during the project-process in order to utilise it as a challenge for any project organisation

The Calcium-Looping (CaCO3/CaO) Process for Thermochemical Energy Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Plants

Articulo aceptado por la revista. * No publicado aún [28-06-2019]Energy storage based on thermochemical systems is gaining momentum as potential alternative to molten salts in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. This work is a detailed review about the promising integration of a CaCO3/CaO based system, the so-called Calcium-Looping (CaL) process, in CSP plants with tower technology. The CaL process relies on low cost, widely available and non-toxic natural materials (such as limestone or dolomite), which are necessary conditions for the commercial expansion of any energy storage technology at large scale. A comprehensive analysis of the advantages and challenges to be faced for the process to reach a commercial scale is carried out. The review includes a deep overview of reaction mechanisms and process integration schemes proposed in the recent literature. Enhancing the multicycle CaO conversion is a major challenge of the CaL process. Many lab-scale analyses carried out show that residual effective CaO conversion is highly dependent on the process conditions and CaO precursors used, reaching values as different as 0.07-0.82. The selection of the optimal operating conditions must be based on materials, process integration, technology and economics aspects. Global plant efficiencies over 45% (without considering solar-side losses) show the interest of the technology. Furthermore, the technological maturity and potential of the process is assessed. The direction towards which future works should be headed is discussed.Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad CTQ2014-52763-C2, CTQ2017- 83602-C2 (-1-R and -2-R)Unión Europea Horizon 2020 Grant agreement No 727348, project SOCRATCES

The mOxy-CaL Process: Integration of Membrane Separation, Partial Oxy-combustion and Calcium Looping for CO2 Capture

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is considered as a key strategy in the short to medium term to mitigate global warming. The Calcium-Looping process, based on the reversible carbonation/calcination of CaO particles, is a promising technology for post-combustion CO2 capture because of the low cost and non-toxicity of natural CaO precursors and the minor energy penalty on the power plant in comparison with amines capture based technologies (4-9 % compared to 8-12 %). Another interesting process to reduce CO2 emissions in power plants is oxy-combustion, which is based on replacing the air used for combustion by a highly concentrated (~95 % v/v) O2 stream. This work proposes a novel process (mOxy-CaL) for post-combustion CO2 capture based on the integration of membrane separation, partial oxy-combustion and the Calcium-Looping process. An oxygenenriched air stream, which is obtained from air separation by using highly permeable polymeric membranes, is used to carry out partial oxy-combustion. The flue gas exiting partial oxy-combustion shows a CO2 concentration of ~30 % v/v (higher than 15 % v/v typical in coal power plants). After that, the flue gas is passed to the CaL process where the CO2 reacts with CaO solids according to the carbonation reaction. Thermogravimetric analysis show that the multicycle CaO conversion is enhanced as the CO2 concentration in the flue gas stream is increased. Process simulations show that the mOxy-CaL process has a high CO2 capture efficiency (~95%) with lower energy consumption per kg of CO2 avoided than previously proposed post-combustion CO2 capture technologies. Moreover, the overall system size is significantly lower that state-of-the-art CaL systems, which allows for an important reduction in the capital cost of the technology

Identification of best available thermal energy storage compounds for low-to-moderate temperature storage applications in buildings

Award-winning paper at III International Congress and V National on Sustainable Construction and Eco-Efficient Solutions (CICSE) March 2017Over the last 40 years different thermal energy storage materials have been investigated with the aim of enhancing energy efficiency in buildings, improving systems performance, and increasing the share of renewable energies. However, the main requirements for their efficient implementation are not fully met by most of them. This paper develops a comparative review of thermophysical properties of materials reported in the literature. The results show that the highest volumetric storage capacities for the best available sensible, latent and thermochemical storage materials are 250 MJ/m3, 514 MJ/m3 and 2000 MJ/m3, respectively, corresponding to water, barium hydroxide octahydrate, and magnesium chloride hexahydrate. A group of salt hydrates and inorganic eutectics have been identified as the most promising for the development of competitive thermal storage materials for cooling, heating and comfort applications in the short-term. In the long-term, thermochemical storage materials seem promising. However, additional research efforts are required.Identificación de los mejores compuestos disponibles de almacenamiento de energía térmica para aplicaciones de baja a moderada temperatura en edificación. En los últimos 40 años se han investigado diferentes materiales de almacenamiento térmico con el objetivo de mejorar la eficiencia energética en los edificios, mejorar el rendimiento de sistemas y aumentar el uso de renovables. Sin embargo, la mayoría no cumple los principales requisitos para su eficiente implementación. Este artículo desarrolla una revisión de las propiedades termofísicas de los materiales existentes en la literatura. Los resultados muestran que las mayores capacidades de almacenamiento volumétrico para los mejores materiales de almacenamiento sensible, latente y termoquímico son 250 MJ/m3, 514 MJ/m3 y 2000 MJ/m3, respectivamente, correspondientes a agua, hidróxido de bario octahidratado y cloruro de magnesio hexahidratado. Un conjunto de sales hidratadas y eutécticos han sido identificados como los más prometedores para el desarrollo de materiales competitivos para aplicaciones de enfriamiento, calefacción y confort a corto plazo. A largo plazo, el almacenamiento termoquímico parece prometedor. Sin embargo, investigación adicional es requerida.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional SOE1/P3/P0429EUMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes FPU14/06583Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BES-2015-0703149Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2014-52763-C2-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2017- 83602-C2-2

El cambio climático y las nuevas tecnologías : posibilidad de aseguramiento de estos riesgos.

El cambio climático consiste en la variación del clima mundial debido a la acumulación de gases residuales en la atmósfera. Los efectos del impacto se evidencian en el aumento de los terrenos áridos y el incremento de las lluvias que han aumentado el nivel de los ríos y mares. La comunidad internacional viene estructurando regímenes de responsabilidad civil para proteger los efectos del daño ambiental, sin embargo la dificultad en la medición del riesgo hace que la mayoría de éstos efectos resulten inasegurables pues la problemática de la contaminación ambiental que indiscutiblemente tiene incidencia en los cambios climáticos, no se resuelve con una póliza de seguro y el sector asegurador está frente a un reto en el que debe incursionar. Nota: Para consultar la carta de autorización de publicación de este documento por favor copie y pegue el siguiente enlace en su navegador de Internet: http://hdl.handle.net/10818/887