Newcastle University

As the largest energy research institute in the Netherlands, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) carries out research into new technologies for energy efficiency, heat technology and process technology.  ECN’s research in energy efficiency focusses on two areas: 

1.  Using heat technology to reduce energy costs

ECN develops technologies and services for heat pumps, heat integration and storage.  These technologies enable end users to utilise less energy by reducing heat demand and producing heat more efficiently, which lead to lower energy costs and reduced carbon emissions.

2.  Using process technology to improve operating processes
ECN develops processes to separate gases and liquids efficiently and energy-efficiently. For instance, Hybsi® and Hysep® are two unique membrane modules developed and patented by ECN.  For industrial-scale large coal and gas-fired power stations as well as small-scale biogas cleaning systems, ECN technologies can be applied to remove impurities from gases released during combustion processes.  ECN introduces more compact and efficient plants and systems for the bulk chemical industry by combining process steps and reducing the scale of processes. Also, the Sorption-Enhanced Water Gas Shift (SEWGS) technology combines the production of hydrogen from syngas with the separation of CO2 in a single process step.

The field trip scheduled on the 30^th of June 2017 will allow participants to visit various lab facilities in the area of thermal energy.  The following figures show a few examples of ECN’s facilities, including test houses, biomass promate and ammonia sorption test (from left to right).