LIFE Project Number
LIFE08 ENV/IT/000411
FINAL REPORT
Reporting Date
30/06/2013
LIFE PROJECT NAME
ENERG-ICE
Data Project
Project location
ITALY
Project start date:
01/01/2010
Project end date:
31/03/2013 Extension date: no
Total Project duration
(in months)
39 months Extension months: no
Total budget
€ 2 870 107
EC contribution:
€ 1 372 554
(%) of total costs
50%
(%) of eligible costs
50%
Data Beneficiary
Name Beneficiary
Dow Italia S.r.l.
Contact person
Mr Francesco Carciotto
Postal address
Via Carpi n° 29, 42015 Correggio (RE) Italy
Visit address
Via Carpi n° 29, 42015 Correggio (RE) Italy
Telephone
+39-0522-6451 + direct n° +39-0522-645886
Fax:
+39-0522-645823 + direct n°
E-mail
fcarciotto@dow.com
Project Website
www.dow.energice.com
DOW CONFIDENTIAL - Do not share without permission
1.
LIST OF CONTENTS
2.
LIST KEY-WORDS AND ABBREVIATIONS
3.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4.
INTRODUCTION
5.
LIFE-PROJECT FRAMEWORK
5.1.
Working method, project phases, activities/tasks by phase, planning
5.2.
Beneficiary, partners and project organization
6.
TECHNOLOGY: APPLIED TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGY
7.
PROGRESSES, RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES BY ACTION
8.
9.
7.1.
Action 1: Total Project Management by DOW-DOW DC
7.2.
Action 2: Project Management by AFROS-CRIOS
7.3.
Action 3: Project Monitoring
7.4.
Action 4: Preparation of the Demonstration by DOW-DOW DC
7.5.
Action 5: Preparation of the Demonstration by AFROS-CRIOS
7.6.
Action 6: Construction of Pilot Plant (AFROS with CRIOS)
7.7.
Action 7: Fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process
7.8.
Action 8: Sample Testing and Validation of Results
7.9.
Action 9: Industrial Validation
7.10.
Action 10: Evaluation of Demonstration: Environmental Benefit and
Market Impact
7.11.
Action 11: Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA, Layman’s Report
7.12.
Action 12: After LIFE Communication Plan
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSIONS
8.1.
Project implementation
8.2.
Analysis of long-term benefits
FINANCIAL REPORT
9.1.
Cost incurred, accounting system, partnership arrangements, audit
reports
2
2.
LIST OF KEY-WORDS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviation
Meaning
ADD
Average Density Distribution
BA
Blowing Agent
BOE
Barrel Oil Equivalent
CP
Cyclopentane
3d-CS
Three Directional Compressive Strength
CS
Compressive Strength
DD
Density Distribution
DIDC
Dow Italia Divisione Commerciale
DOW
Dow Italia S.r.l.
DS
Dimensional Stability
EC
European Commission
EE
Energy Efficiency
FC
Federchimica
GA
Grant Agreement
GHG
Green House Gases
GWP
Green Warming Potential
HCFCs
Hydro-chloro-fluoro-carbons
HCs
Hydrocarbons
HFCs
Hydro-fluoro-carbons
HSE
Health Safety and Environment
HW
Hardware
KF
K-factor, also Lambda, also Thermal conductivity
LAB
Laboratory
OEMs
Original Equipment Manufacturers
OPD
Ozone Depletion Potential
PA
Partnership Agreement
PU
Polyurethane
RC
Responsible Care
SA
Secrecy Agreement
SW
Software
TACEC
Towards A Carbon Efficient Chemistry
300
DSD 300.02 Dev. Polyol
408
DSD 408.01 Dev. Polyol
3
453
DSD 453.01 Dev. Polyol
426
DSD 426.01 Dev. Polyol
459
DSD 459.01 Dev. Polyol
468
DSD 468.01 Dev. Polyol
502
XSD 502 Exp. Polyol
503
XSD 503 Exp. Polyol
503,02
XSD 503.02 Exp. Polyol
504
XSD 504 Exp. Polyol
504,02
XSD 504.02 Exp. Polyol
505
XSD 505 Exp. Polyol
4
3.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Project objectives
Polyurethanes are one of the most versatile plastic materials. The nature of the chemistry
allows polyurethanes to be adapted to solve challenging problems, to be molded into
unusual shapes and to enhance industrial and consumer products by adding comfort,
warmth and convenience to our lives.
Rigid polyurethane foam is the most commonly used material to insulate household
appliances due to its excellent thermal insulation behavior and process-ability allowing
an easy filling of refrigerator’s insulating cavity of any geometry. Currently, rigid
polyurethane foam insulation with an average thermal conductivity (also named lambda
or k-factor) of 0.0195-0.021 W/m·K @ 10°C is used.
Energy efficiency improvement is an important driving force of the global household
appliance industry. In recent years, there has been an increasing need to improve energy
efficiency of cold appliances (refrigerators and freezers) in order to meet environmental
regulations which are becoming more and more stringent around the world.
The Directive 2012/27/UE on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of
measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Economic Area
(EEA) in order to ensure the achievement of the Union’s 2020 20% headline target on
energy efficiency and to pave the way for further energy efficiency improvements
beyond that date. The household sector is one of the largest users of electrical energy in
the European Union, consuming 29% of total electrical energy. Cold appliances such as
refrigerators and freezers account for up to 25% of household energy consumption.
The ENERG-ICE project objective was to showcase a breakthrough polyurethane
technology for manufacturing cold appliances using allowing up to 10% of energy
savings compared to the best in class appliances available today (A/A+/A++ labelling).
Project key deliverables
To achieve the challenging objective of the project, the following key deliverables and
milestones were set:
•
•
•
•
The energy efficiency improvement is measured by Reverse Heat Leakage (RHL)
test, a well-known and accepted methodology developed by the appliance
manufacturers to estimate the polyurethane foam insulation contribution to the
final refrigerator’s energy consumption. A detailed RHL test description is made.
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) aimed at comparing the environmental impact of
designing cold appliances with the new ENERG-ICE technology and with
conventional methods was done to quantify the Environmental Impact of the
project. These results demonstrate the reduced energy consumption and carbon
footprint of ENERG-ICE.
A market evaluation study has been done to gauge the economical feasibility of
up-scaling and introducing the ENERG-ICE appliance insulation technology to
the European and worldwide market.
A wide dissemination activity was done throughout the entire project life to
properly communicate the project objectives while updating the outcomes and
results achieved not only to the cold appliance manufacturers but also to the
largest insulation industry community.
5
•
Last but not least the construction of the ENERG-ICE pilot line made in AfrosCannon was instrumental for the demonstration of the ENERG-ICE technology
outcomes and the scaling up feasibility for the refrigeration industry.
Project outputs
The project can be considered concluded with success. Main results achieved:
•
•
The refrigerator’s energy efficiency measured by RHL has been significantly
improved matching project objectives:
o 8% RHL improvement was measured on refrigerators filled with ENERGICE polyurethane foam employing the Cyclo-pentane blowing agent
having GWP = 11.
o 11% RHL improvement was measured on refrigerators filled with
ENERG-ICE polyurethane foam employing the low GWP blowing agent
known as Hydro-Fluoro-Olefin (HFO) having GWP=8.9.
LCA on a cradle-to-gate perspective demonstrated that the new ENERG-ICE
technology offers a small but plausible advantage in all impacts considered,
primarily due to the less mass required to get the same performance.
o The ENERG-ICE technology allows for a measured 10% less electricity
use which translates to about 10% reduction in all potential cradle-tograve impacts.
o This work was done in accordance with ISO standards for a project not
making a comparative assertion and has received a critical peer review
and external certification by Dr. Martin Baitz of PE INTERNATIONAL
AG.
The project has an impact on the Cold Appliance industry at global level; its replication
potential for other insulation industry segments was demonstrated too.
These results achieved during the 39 months of project’s life will be documented in
details in the next chapters of the Final Report.
4.
INTRODUCTION
Background
Polyurethane (PU) is an important component in household appliances that consumers
use every day, such as refrigerators and freezers. Rigid PU foam was introduced to the
refrigeration industry in the 70’s. Because of its ideal processing and property
characteristics it’s now the insulation and construction polymeric material of choice for
domestic refrigerators and freezers. The most common use for PU in major appliances is
low density close cell rigid foams for the insulation of refrigerators and freezers, as well
as for the cold chain products or in the field of refrigerated transportation. Rigid PU foam
is an essential and cost effective material that can be used for meeting required energy
ratings in consumer refrigerators and freezers. The good thermal insulating properties of
the PU foams result from a combination of a fine, closed-cell foam structure and cell
gases with low thermal conductivities and therefore that resist heat transfer. Another
important advantage of PU is the ability, during the production phase, to be injected as
6
reacting mixture in the cavity between the internal and external walls of the appliance
while filling it completely; this ability is unmatched by any other insulating material.
Problem statement
Energy efficiency improvement is an important driving force of the global household
appliance industry. In recent years there has been an increasing need to improve energy
efficiency of cold appliances in order to meet environmental regulations which are
becoming more and more stringent around the world. Continued technical improvements
in the efficiency of refrigerators and freezers have been offset by increased use.
The Directive 2012/27/UE on energy efficiency establishes a common framework of
measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the European Economic Area
(EEA) in order to ensure the achievement of the Union’s 2020 20% headline target on
energy efficiency and to pave the way for further energy efficiency improvements
beyond that date. The Energy label helps drive product innovation and competition,
provide consumers with the effective information when purchasing appliances, and it
contributes to the European energy saving targets (20% energy saving by 2020). A
snapshot of today’s legislation requirement in Europe in shown in the attached figure:
As shown in the figure above, today’s appliance sold in the market can be only A+ or
better energy class, however, from July 2014 only A++ energy class appliance will be
allowed. This is an extremely challenging target for the industry and must be combined
with increased product sustainability.
The objective of this project is to demonstrate that there is a technical solution provided
newly developed polyurethane foams with very low thermal conductivity are employed
combined with an innovative foaming technique consisting on applying a controlled level
of vacuum to the refrigerator’s cavity during the PU reaction and filling processes. In the
case, it’s possible to fill properly the refrigerators insulating cavity using very fast
reactive PU formulations, having the characteristics to generate fine cell PU foam with
enhanced, lower, thermal conductivity. This will improve the foam insulation behaviors
and, as a consequence, the refrigerator’s energy efficiency.
7
Expected results
The ENERG-ICE project main target is to demonstrate that the very fast reactive foam
developed for the use with vacuum assisted foaming injection is able to satisfy the
project objective, showcasing a breakthrough polyurethane technology for manufacturing
cold appliances allowing up to 10% of energy savings compared to the best in class
appliances available in the market. All the other foam properties and process, as well as
the refrigerator’s quality and process characteristics must remain the same or improved
compared to current manufacturing process. The effects of PU foam properties and
process parameters on the refrigerators energy efficiency were explored during the course
of the project; the refrigerators produced in the ENERG-ICE pilot plant were tested in
terms of energy efficiency measured by means of Reverse Heat Leakage (RHL) at an
external independent Laboratory approved by CECED (the European association of
appliances producers) and certified for appliances energy consumption measurements to
demonstrate the feasibility of the ENERG-ICE technology for the household industry.
Another important target of the project was to demonstrate that the benefits in terms of
energy efficiency were obtained while improving the environmental footprint of the
refrigerators manufacturing process. The “true” environmental benefits of the ENERGICE technology were demonstrated through a Life Cycle Assessment methodology
validated and certified by an external auditor.
Five major global appliance producers have tested the ENERG-ICE technology that
inspired quite some interest in the global market place.
5.
LIFE PROJECT FRAMEWORK
5.1.
Working method
The ENERG-ICE project activities have been organized and executed according to the
following Gantt chart, providing a clear overview of the activities by phases with relative
partner ownership:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2012
2011
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
1 Total Project Management by DOW
DOW M1 M39 39
N°
2 Project Management by Afros
Afros
M1
M39
39
3 Project Monitoring
DOW
M1
M39
39
PREPARATORY ACTIONS
4 Preparation of the Demonstration by DOW DOW
M1
M12
12
5 Preparation of the Demonstration by Afros Afros
M1
M9
9
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
IMPLEMENTATION PHASES
PHASE 1 – PILOT DEMONSTRATION AND FINETUNING
6 Construction of Pilot Plant
Crios M1 M15
Fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process
7
(w ith AFROS)
8
Sample Testing and Validation of Results
(w ith DOW)
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
15
DOW
M3
M39
37
Afros
M5
M39
35
PHASE 2 – INDUSTRIAL VALIDATION AND DEMONSTRATION
9 Industrial Validation (w ith DOW)
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
Afros
M7
M39
33
DOW
M7
M13
M39
M38
33
15
DISSEMINATION
11 Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA
Feder
M1
M39
39
12 After LIFE Communication Plan
DIDC M37
M39
3
10
Evaluation of Demonstration (w ith
AFROS)
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
8
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
by DOW-DIDC
by Afros-Crios
by Federchimica
completed
The attached Gantt chart shows the status of the various phases at the project end date of
March 31st, 2013. The project is terminated in all its actions, all phases have been
successfully completed, the After-life dissemination program has been prepared and will
be detailed in section 9 of this report.
The time dedicated to the various project activities and tasks by action was monitored by
collecting the time sheets for each partner. In the case, the time sheets were added by a
row to assign the hours worked on the project to the specific action; this has facilitated a
lot the project management and monitoring, making sure the project manager and the
steering team were punctually informed of the project progresses and could intervene in
case of need. Particularly, the time sheets of Dow and DIDC personnel were collected
each month, both electronic and paper copies; the paper copies have been signed within
the month next to that considered. For the partners, we agreed to copllect the timesheets
each 3 months, both electronic and paper copies.
5.2 Beneficiary, partners and project organization
Dow Italia s.r.l.
Dow Italia s.r.l., a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, is a diversified chemical
company, offering a large range of chemical products and services in Italy and in the
European market. Dow operates in Italy since 1960 with six production facilities, about
740 employees, and an annual turnover of €977 million in 2012. More information about
Dow in Italy can be found at www.dow.com/italy.
Dow believes that connecting chemistry and innovation can generate new ways to solve
challenges and exceed customer expectations. The Company believes that taking the
extra step to be socially responsible does not hold us back, but instead sets us apart. Dow
believes in the worth of our people, in the value of each individual employee and their
differing experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. Dow believes in the power of
difference, striving to build a culture that embraces innovation, responsibility and
diversity. Dow Italia s.r.l. R&D centre of Correggio is the global centre of excellence for
the polyurethane foams development, leading innovation in PU insulation foams.
Dow combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is
essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the
principles of sustainability to help address many of the world’s most challenging
problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and
conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow’s diversified industry-leading
portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses
delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in
approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water,
energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2012, Dow had annual sales of approximately $57
billion and employed approximately 54,000 people worldwide. The Company’s more
than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its
consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow
can be found at www.dow.com.
9
. Dow Italia Divisione Commerciale s.r.l.
Dow Italia Divisione Commerciale s.r.l. is a legal entity of the Dow group which has
been established in 2001 with the aim to take care of the distribution, marketing and sales
of the products owned by Dow Europe GmbH. The main purpose of DIDC is to better
focus efforts and increase sales on the Italian markets and industries, with their specific
characteristics, and in order to be more effective, and closer to the customers. Its main
offices are located in Milano and Correggio. Dow Italia Divisione Commerciale Srl lists
approximately 75 employees in 2013.
Afros S.p.A.
AFROS is part of (owned 92%) the CANNON Group, an international, independent
supplier of dedicated engineering solutions for a range of industries world-wide. The
Group's main fields of activity are plastics processing technologies (for polyurethane,
thermoplastics, composites and thermoforming), equipment for energy production and
water treatment, aluminum die-casting machines and electronic control systems for
industrial processes. With more than 1,000 people employed in 12 Manufacturing
facilities and over 40 local branches, the CANNON Group supports over 25.000
industrial customers world-wide.
Since 1964 AFROS has gained a worldwide experience in the engineering and design of
dosing, mixing and foaming machines and systems for polyurethanes, installing over
25.000 foam injection points in the World. AFROS metering machines are specifically
designed for the Polyurethane industry and can be tailored in various production
configurations. AFROS, through its R&D team and facility, carries out an intense
research program for the continuous improvement of its products and technologies,
resulting in the development of more than 200 international patents for the PU industry.
Crios S.p.A.
CRIOS - a member (owned 92 %) of the CANNON Group - is recognized since 30 years
as a world-wide leader in the supply of foaming plants for domestic and commercial
refrigerators. CRIOS designs, engineers and manufactures complete, dedicated solutions
for providing the customer with proven turn-key solutions for all levels of investment.
Several innovative, patented foam-filling solutions have changed the way refrigerators
are produced, among which are worth being mentioned the Zero-Time Plug-Change
ROTOPLUG system for cabinets and the Rotary Drum System for doors.
In June 2012 CRIOS changed name to Cannon Ergos S.p.A., the CANNON Group unit
devoted to the development of turn-key plants for the plastics and foam industries.
Federchimica
Federchimica is the abbreviated name of the Italian Federation of the Chemical Industry.
Founded as the Italian Federation of Chemical Industry Associations in 1920, it became
Aschimici in 1945 and was transformed into Federchimica in 1984. At present, 1,400
companies, with a total of 90,000 employees, are part of Federchimica. They are grouped
into 17 Associations, articulated into 40 Product groups. Federchimica is a member of
Confindustria (General Confederation of the Italian Industry) and CEFIC (European
Chemical Industry Council).
10
Federchimica, whose primary objectives are the coordination and the protection of the
role of the Italian chemical industry as well as the promotion of its development capacity,
has the following main duties:
•
•
•
•
•
to elaborate guidelines in economic, industrial and trade union topics and also in
the areas of environment, innovation and energy policies;
to promote these policies with Public Authorities, national economic
organizations, other entrepreneurial organizations, international organizations to
whom the Federation belongs, trade union leaders, environmental and consumer
organizations;
to contribute to the establishment of an accurate image of the chemical industry in
the public opinion;
to carry out studies and projects which inspire and legitimates entrepreneurial
choice;
to contribute to the constant promotion of the level of quality of the Member
companies, with a particular attention to the organization of initiatives in the field
of innovation.
The actions related to the project management and monitoring have been realized as
planned. A steering committee led by Dr. Vanni Parenti/DOW as project leader with the
coordination of Eng. Maurizio Corti/Afros and Dr. E. Brena/Federchimica has been
coordinating all project activities:
DISSEMINATION BOARD
MANAGEMENT BOARD
CANNON-AFROS
PRJ COORDINATOR
Eng. Maurizio Corti
AFROS team:
FEDERCHIMICA
PRJ COORDIANTOR
Dr. Enrico Brena
DOW ITALIA
PRJ LEADER
Dr. Vanni Parenti
CRIOS team:
TECH. REPORTING
Dr. Giuseppe Gatti
Prj MANAGER
Fabrizio Pobbiati
COMMUNICATION
Massimo Taverna
DESIGN LEADER
Fabrizio Pobbiati
LAB TRIAL COORD.
Fabrizio Marzanatti
COMMERCIAL
Eng. Davide Lucca
DOW – DOW DC team:
DOW Italia - TECHNICAL TEAM
Appliance PU Application Technology Development
DOW Italia
TECHNICAL PM
Dr. Rossella Riccio
DOW Italia
PROJECT SUPERVISOR
Dr. Renato Paludetto
DOW Italia
ADMIN. COORDINATOR
Eng. Francesco Carciotto
DOW Italia DC
Product Flow / Commercial
Eng. Francesco Carciotto
Partnership agreement
The Partnership Agreement of the project has been prepared by Dow, compatible with
the Grant Agreement signed with the Commission. The Partnership Agreement of
ENERG-ICE makes reference to the Common Provisions and includes the contents
described in the guidelines available in the LIFE+ programme website.
The Partnership Agreement includes the five partners of the project: Dow Italia, Dow
Italia Divisione Commerciale, Afros S.p.A., CRIOS S.p.A. and Federchimica. The
11
document is aligned to the amendment of the Grant Agreement concerning the new
partner and the technical activity.
The final version of the document has been signed by the parties on September 2010. The
key contents of the, and includes:
-
The role and obligations of each party of the Partnership Agreement
-
The specification to avoid and/or solve any conflict of interest
-
The channels of communication among partners and the ways to submit
documents/information to carry out the project activities and to report to the
European Commission
-
The payment terms and modalities among the parties
The original signed version (including signatures dates) of the Partnership Agreement
was delivered with the Inception report on September 17th, 2010.
12
6.
TECHNOLOGY: APPLIED TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGY
The steering committee has been managing all project activities making sure the
deliverables and milestones were completed within the action’s deadlines. Partnership
and positive attitude among partners has been the key to efficiently drive the project to a
positive conclusion, mitigating and resolving any issue, addressing the scaling up from
laboratory evidence to pilot plant demonstration of the technology.
From a methodology point of view, since the starting date of the project (January 2010),
all the activities have been coordinated according to the Gantt chart and, as expected, few
of those were overlapping one to another; these can be summarized in four main clusters:
•
Project management
The process implemented by the steering committee was very simple: the project leader
has the responsibility to lead the project plan, managing the work priorities and
resources, promptly communicating with the steering team for project progresses and
issues (if any), keeping the beneficiaries informed on the status of the activities,
stimulating the interactions among partners to get the tasks done in due time. The project
leader has regularly communicated in person with the steering team members allowing
smooth project evolution.
•
Preparatory actions
The preparatory actions by Dow and Afros included several activities overlapping one to
another. On Dow side the main responsibility was on the PU chemical development; on
Afros side the main responsibility was on the engineering and final design of the pilot
plant to demonstrate the ENERG-ICE technology feasibility for cold appliances.
Both Dow and Afros had the responsibility to investigate the market penetration and
replication potential worldwide, with specific focus on Europe, Turkey, China, North and
South America. This was accomplished presenting the ENERG-ICE technology to
several major appliance producers. Generally, all the visited OEMs were extremely
interested in the project scope, recognizing the need for the industry to improve the
refrigerators energy efficiency of a quantum step, so there was a consensus on the
improvement magnitude of 10% being significant. Among others, the appliance
producers exposed to the ENERG-ICE technology were the following:
Region
North America
Latin America
Europe
Asia-Pacific
Appliance producer
Whirlpool Corporation
General Electric
MABE
Esmaltec
Electrolux Home Products
Bosch-Siemens
Arcelik
Mitsubishi Electrical Co.
Panasonic
Samsung
Hisense
13
Location
Benton Harbor/Michigan
Decatur/Alabama
Celaya/Mexico
Fortaleza/Brazil
Susegana/Italy
Giengen/Germany
Eskisehir/Turkey
Japan
Shiga/Japan
Suwon/South Korea
Hefei/China
However, during the 39 months of project life only 5 major producers have accepted to
participate to the ENERG-ICE demonstrations at the Afros-Cannon pilot plant sending a
series of empty cabinets and doors to be foamed.
Three parties Secrecy Agreement (SA) among DOW, Afros/Crios and the OEMs, is an
essential part for the project success. In fact, to demonstrate the ENERG-ICE technology,
the OEMs need to send their empty refrigerators and parts of the original mold (the mold
core) to the new Afros pilot line to inject the pieces under the vacuum assisted process.
Moreover, the OEMs need to share with Afros the drawings of both the refrigerator’s
model and the mold parts, so confidentiality of these activities must be guaranteed to
avoid leak of information to other parties or competitors. For the same reasons, the
refrigerator producers did ask to remain anonymous, to avoid giving references of their
refrigerator models performance, so we’ll called them Customer A, B, C, D and E. Some
of them repeated the ENERG-ICE demonstration twice, like B and C, in order to test
different chemistry evolution, Customer E run the test 3 times. ENERG-ICE test details
will be explained in section 7.9 of this report.
Some other OEMs requested to remain updated on the project advancement but didn’t
agree to sign a three party SA to become a stakeholder of the ENERG-ICE activities.
.
• Implementation
The core activities of the implementation phases were two:
1. the construction of the ENERG-IGE pilot plant, completed at the end of
November 2010
2. the practical execution of the ENERG-ICE technology demonstrations foaming
real refrigerators
In parallel, fine tuning of the PU formulation chemistry and process did continue for the
whole project life, improving and optimizing the foam performance to the new foaming
process under vacuum test after test. This was the most relevant, challenging but also
technically exciting activity of the project. The evaluation of demonstrations is
summarized in section 7.9 of this report.
•
Dissemination
This specific activity coordinated by Federchimica has been promoted at different levels:
•
•
•
•
•
The project web site has been created by Dow as coordinating beneficiary
according to the LIFE+ rules and it’s maintained updated: www.dow.energice.com
Poster and brochures, created by Federchimica, have been exposed and delivered
to any event at which ENERG-ICE was promoted
Generally, Dow and Afros promoted the ENERG-ICE technology within the
domestic refrigeration channel as well as in the global insulation market
Federchimica promoted the ENERG-ICE technology within the chemical industry
to create awareness of technology innovation and give visibility to the project
creating a specific section on its web site (www.federchimica.it) as well as
providing updates on Federchimica newsletters
Federchimica also promoted ENERG-ICE within the official program of several
workshops on Responsible Care and T.A.C.E.C. (Towards A Carbon Efficient
Chemistry), and did organize both the mid-term and the final project conferences.
The dissemination activities including the list of events in which the project was
presented and the activities against deliverables will be explained in section 7.11 of this
report.
14
7.
PROGRESSES, RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES BY ACTION
7.1.
Action 1: Total Project Management by DOW-DOW DC
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
The Action 1 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
1 Total Project Management by DOW
DOW M1 M39 39
N°
As described in the chapter 6 of this report, the Dow project leader led the total project
plan, managing the work priorities and resources, working with the steering team to keep
informed the beneficiaries on the status and progresses of all project activities.
A1
Deliverables
Description
1
Activity Reports
Standard EC Reporting deliverables
2
Audit
3
Dissemination by DOW
Audit of financial statements
Publication of articles (n° 8) and papers (n° 4) on
specialized magazines jointly with AFROS.
Preparation and printing of dissemination
materials targeting industrial stakeholders, wider
public and policy makers (jointly with AFROS).
Tasks completed and tangible results:
A1
Deliverables
1
Activity Reports
2
Audit
3
Dissemination by DOW
Results
Standard EC Reports delivered:
• Inception Report on 17 July 2010
• Mid Term report on 18 November 2011
Audit/Monitoring visits from Timesis/Astrale:
• 11 May 2010
• 7 April 2011
• 3 April 2012
• 22 October 2012 (with Desk Officer A. de
Villepin)
• 9 May 2013
Audit EU Corte dei Conti:
• 14, 15, 16 January 2013
Detailed list of publications and papers attached
15
7.1.1. Deliverable A1-3: Publications of articles and papers on specialized
magazines
Attached the list of technical articles published in specialized magazines. All articles are
added to the final report. More dissemination material from Dow and Afros will be
delivered within the After-life Communication Plan (as described in chapter 9).
Magazine
Articles
Date
Industria Meccanica
Congelare a bassa energia
3 April 2012
Ambiente Hi-Tech
IL Sole 24 ore
1 Maggio 2011
26 September 2011
La Chimica e l’industria
Federchimica magazine
Dow Italia e i suoi progetti LIFE
Chimica: quale ruolo nella sostenibilità
Dow Italia Celebrates the International Year of Chemistry with the Energ-Ice
Project at CHEM-MED International
Verso una chimica ad alta efficenza energetica
Energ-Ice per congelatori a basso consumo
Greenweek magazine
Dow showcases Sustainable Solutions, Policy Perspectives at EU GreenWeek
PLAST
1 January 2012
5 Maggio 2011
Newsletter Marzo 2012
Newsletter Greenweek
June 2011 (attached )
It is of particular importance the project dissemination which took place at the European
Community GreenWeek of May 2011 where the ENERG-ICE project leader, Vanni
Parenti, had the chance to explain the project objectives and results achieved to the EU
Environment Commissioner J. Potocnik. Record of the event published on the Dow web
site attached below:
Dow Showcases Sustainable Solutions, Policy Perspectives at EU
GreenWeek
2011/07/06
The EU Commission recently held its annual environmental policy event, Greenweek, where
businesses and global policymakers addressed the theme of “Resource Efficiency – Using Less,
Living Better.” Dow leaders including Martina Bianchini, Dow director of EU Government Affairs
and Public Policy, and Vanni Parenti, Polyurethane (PU) Systems Global Appliance technology
leader, participated in the event, showcasing Dow's innovative sustainable solutions and policy
views on enabling a green
economy.
Speaking in her role as chair of the
International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC) Green Economy
Task Force, a leading business and
industry group working to represent
commerce at the Rio+20 Earth
Summit on Sustainable
Development in June 2012,
Bianchini explained the business
community's definition of a green
economy and discussed the need
for the report to incorporate better
indicators.
European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik visits the
Dow Greenweek exhibit. From right to left: Lee Mertens (Dow),
Vanni Parenti (Dow), European Commissioner Potocnik,
Christina von Westernhagen (Dow) and Marta Varela (Dow).
“For businesses, the ‘green
economy' is one in which economic growth and environmental responsibility work together while
supporting progress on social development,” said Bianchini. “Business and industry have a
crucial role to play in delivering the economically viable products, processes, technologies,
services, and solutions required for the transition to a green economy.”
The session also included presentations on the best approaches to achieve a green economy
from such policymakers as United Nation Under-Secretary and Executive Director of UNEP
16
Achim Steiner and European Commissioner of Environment Janez Potocnik. Both Stiner and
Commissioner Potocnik paid a visit to Dow's Greenweek exhibition, which displayed a variety of
Dow's sustainable business solutions including DowAgrosciences Spinosad insecticide and DowRS Technik pipeline rehabilitation technology.
Also on display were two Dow business projects co-financed through the European Union
funding programme Life +. Dow's “Green Footprint” project demonstrates the production and
introduction of new, high quality bio-based polyols to the market and the "Energ-Ice" project, as
PU leader Vanni Parenti explained to Commissioner Potocnik, showcases Dow's breakthrough
polyurethane foaming technology for the insulation of cold appliances.
The Dow Greenweek exhibit also highlighted its leadership with the International Year of
Chemistry and its landmark partnership with the Nature Conservancy. In a side event, Dow
officials joined European Parliament member Judith Merkies in a session on “social leasing” to
discuss Dow's innovative business approach to chemical leasing by providing complete
customized services to customers while reducing the environmental and health risk impacts and
improving resource efficiency.
As far as the preparation and printing of dissemination materials is concerned, technical
presentations with project objectives and progresses were shown to several industrial
stakeholders, project brochures were disseminated to wide public audience during the
presentations in the workshops and congresses where the project was presented.
Examples of ENERG-ICE presentations to industrial stakeholders are attached:
Haceb Colombia, Latin America
Hitachi Japan, Asia
MABE Mexico, Central America
Mitsubishi Electrical Company Japan,
Asia
Panasonic Japan, Asia
Whirlpool USA, North America
Other key activities of action 1:
Project on the Web site established: www.dowenergice.com
Nomination of an Independent Auditor in charge verifying the financial
statements as requested by the EC; the Independent Auditor Selected is:
Warrant Group S.r.l - Corso Mazzini,11 - 42015 Correggio (RE) Italia - Tel. 0522 7337 Fax. 0522 692586 – www.warrantgroup.it
•
•
7.2.
Action 2: Project Management by AFROS-CRIOS
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
The Action 1 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
2 Project Management by Afros
Afros M1 M39 39
N°
As reported in the previous chapter related to Action 1, the AFROS-CRIOS
dissemination activities in coordination with the other partners were mainly focused on
17
the project presentations to potential new customers as well as to External Conferences to
promote the ENERG-ICE project to the Industry, and has been carried out in cooperation
with DOW.
A2
1
Deliverables
Description
Dissemination by AFROS
Publication of articles (n° 8) and papers (n° 4) on
specialized magazines jointly with DOW.
Preparation and printing of dissemination
materials targeting industrial stakeholders, wider
public and policy makers (jointly with DOW).
Tasks completed and tangible results:
A2
1
Deliverables
Results
Dissemination by AFROS
Detailed list of publications and papers attached
in the previous section as they were coordinated
with DOW.
Other key activities of action 2:
Project
information
on
both
Cannon
established: www.thecannongroup.com; www.cannon.com
7.3.
Web
sites
Action 3: Project Monitoring
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
The Action 1 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
3 Project Monitoring
DOW M1 M39 39
N°
Deliverables of Action 3 are the results of the monitoring team analysis of the project
progresses for the whole project duration, making sure the deadlines and milestones were
respected.
A3
1
Deliverables
Description
Interim Monitoring Reports
Monitoring report every 6 months
As described in the Mid-Term report delivered on November 2011, the management
board decided to issue one Monitoring Report each year for a total of three deliverables,
since the project phases are link one to another with different emphasis, meaning that
there are three phases taking much longer time than the others but are of fundamental
importance for the project execution; these are:
18
•
•
•
The construction of the pilot plant (Action 6): this is the main action of the
implementation phases, instrumental to invite the refrigerators producers for the
demonstration of the ENERG-ICE technology feasibility
The industrial validations (Action 9): this is also very important and needs a lot of
coordination to make sure the maximum numbers of producers are invited to
complete the validations on real refrigerators in time with respect to the project
deadline
The evaluation of demonstrations (Action 10): this is also taking quite some time
depending on the test protocol each producer invited is following, including
meetings and discussions of the results achieved
The project steering team met several times, mainly at AFROS but also often on phone
conferences, making sure the preparatory actions were completed in time to get started
with the key actions 6, 9 and 10, those of key importance for the project execution but
taking the biggest amount of time. During those meetings the Project Manager had the
responsibility to:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Define who had to attend
Set meeting time, agenda, and length
Facilitate the meeting
Review project charter, objectives, deliverables, and research plan
Review progress against research plan
Identify critical issues for continuing the project
Propose contingency plan if needed
Develop a list of appropriate action items
Communicate updated objectives, deliverables, critical issues, project plans, and
resource needs to key stakeholders
The project monitoring interim reports were made in due time according to the external
monitoring visits so that these deliverables could be shown and discussed.
A3
1
Deliverables
Results
Interim Monitoring Reports
3 Monitoring reports (attached)
Monitoring report 2010
Monitoring report 2011
Monitoring report 2012
7.4.
Action 4: Preparation of the Demonstration by DOW-DOW DC
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 31st December 2010/ Status: Completed
19
The Action 4 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
PREPARATORY ACTIONS
4 Preparation of the Demonstration by DOW DOW
2011
2010
2012
2013
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
M1
M12
12
This action is related to the preparation activities performed at Dow Correggio R&D
laboratory for the development of specific polyurethane chemistry suitable to work with
ENERG-ICE technology; it’s performed in view of the preparation of the demonstration
by Afros (Action 5) and the construction of the pilot plant construction (Action 6). All
activities planned for this part of the project were positively completed by the end of
2010.
List of deliverables of Action 4:
A4
Deliverables
1
Process and Instrument Diagram (P&ID) with
Preparatory study of the chemical
definition of checklist/threshold values for test
process
parameters
Dissemination document for the marketing
Preliminary report on laboratory tests
information Campaign
Preliminary
market
information Plan preliminary market information campaign to
8-10 industrial stakeholders
campaign
2
3
Description
The results achieved in this project phase are reported in the following table against
deliverables (additional details are reported in the sub-chapters):
A4
1
Deliverables
Results
Preparatory study of the chemical
process
2
Preliminary report on laboratory tests
3
Preliminary
campaign
market
Checklist/Table below in section 7.4.1
information
7.4.1. Deliverable Action 4-2: Preliminary report on Laboratory test
One of the key activities in shaping the experiments for the development of the ENERGICE PU formulations is the definition of the threshold values for test parameters. In the table
below the definition of targets, measurement parameters and procedure for testing are
listed:
Test
Scope
Target
20
Method
Compressive Verify the initial and estimated Same or better vs.
strengths
aged dimensional stability
current technology
performance of ENERG-ICE
foams
ISO 844
Creep
Verify the long term stability
performance of the ENERGICE foams
Same or better vs.
current technology
Dow
internal
method
Density
Verify the actual foam density
and density distribution
Same or better vs.
current technology
EN 12667
Lambda
Verify the insulation
performance of the ENERGICE foams
Improved vs. current
technology (ref. to
foam blown with
cyclopentane)
EN 12667
Open Cell
Indirect measurement of the
insulation behaviour of the
foam
Same or better vs.
current technology
ASTM D
6226
RHL
Verify the PU insulation
performance of the cabinets
produced
Up to 10% improved
vs. current technology
(ref. to foam blown
with cyclopentane)
AE Lab
protocol
(section
7.4.4.1).
Additional ad-hoc performed tests are reported into the Dow Correggio PU Appliance
Lab evaluation procedure as described in the attached file:
Other key activities and tasks of action 4:
Reverse Heat Leakage Test
The refrigerators energy efficiency improvement due to the PU insulation material can be
measured with a specific test, called Reverse Heat Leakage (RHL), well known and used
by the refrigeration industry globally. The RHL test is an experimental method to
determine the polyurethane thermal insulation efficiency in a refrigerator (cabinet +
door) assembled without the compressor. RHL measures the contribution of the PU foam
insulation efficiency to the overall energy performance of the cold appliance; the
methodology to measure RHL is reported in the following report:
The energy efficiency improvement is the key target of the ENERG-ICE project, so a key
task is the selection of an equipped and qualified laboratory for performing the Reverse
Heat Leakage (RHL) tests of cold appliances. Among the European Laboratories
certified for Energy Consumption measurements of appliance machines according to EN
153 norm, two were audited to run the RHL test according to producer’s methodology:
•
Karlsruhe University, Karlsruhe/Germany
21
•
Appliance Engineering Lab, Gavirate/Italy
The second laboratory was chosen, so all the RHL tests were performed in the Appliance
Engineering Laboratory of Gavirate/Italy, that is recognized by CECED (the European
Appliance Manufacturers Association) for EN 153 measurements; its web site
is: http://www.ae-online.it
RHL Procedure measurement
The Reverse Heat Leakage test is an experimental method to determine the polyurethane
thermal insulation efficiency in a refrigerator (cabinet) assembled with its doors but
without compressor.
The refrigerator is placed in a testing room set at the following climate conditions:
temperature of +5°C ± 0.5°C and humidity lower than 60%. The cabinet is prepared and
adequately located in “up-side down” position, 100 mm far from the climate room floor
(the same minimum distance must be maintained also from the roof and from the climate
room side walls); an heating element (an heater) is placed inside the compartment to be
tested. After that, thermocouples are positioned on the internal walls of the compartment
to be tested, on the external walls of the cabinet and on the internal and external walls of
the door; each compartment, the refrigerator compartment and the freezer compartment)
must be tested separately, one by one.
The figures below show an example of appliance and heating element positioning. The
thermocouples record the temperatures inside and outside the refrigerators and are
positioned on each side of the refrigerator (or freezer) and door:
The heating element inside of the compartment must be fed in order to create a specific
DELTA T, hence to maintain the desired gap between the internal and external
temperatures. This DELTA T is fixed at 20°C for the refrigerator compartment and at
40°C for the freezer compartment.
The power consumption represents the Kwh/24h (or Wh/24h) value of the heating
element during the test (to create and maintain the DELTA T); the RHL value is the
power (expressed in W) supplied to the heater to maintain the DELTA T for each
compartment.
The power supplied is recorded when the thermal balance condition is achieved. This
means that the desired DELTA T has been achieved and maintain for at least 24 hours,
and no adjustment on the heating element power is needed. Once the thermal balance is
22
achieved, temperatures for each thermocouples and power supplied to the coil are carried
out and recorded for at least 24 hours. Additional details are reported in the attached files.
Refrigeration Market Survey
Refrigerator Market Survey China and World (2011) used for the study of the market
replication potential is attached:
7.5. Action 5: Preparation of the Demonstration by AFROS-CRIOS
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 30st November 2010/ Status: Completed
The Action 5 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PREPARATORY ACTIONS
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
5 Preparation of the Demonstration by Afros Afros M1
M9
9
N°
This action is related to the preparation of the demonstration by Afros-Cannon leading to
the design the ENERG-ICE pilot plant, considering all engineering and controls needed
to build it, the including the safety aspects.
A5
1
2
A5
1
2
Deliverables
Description
This report contains the plant blueprints and
defines all the production targets, process
Technical report on pilot plant design
parameters, control points, reference values for
measurements
Preliminary
market
information Plan preliminary market information campaign to
8-10 industrial stakeholders
campaign
Deliverables
Results
Technical report on pilot plant design
Preliminary market information
campaign
Appliance producers informed are listed in the
summary of the preparatory actions (pag.13)
7.5.1.
Deliverable A5-2: Preliminary market information campaign
The preliminary market information campaign started since the beginning of
the project in cooperation with Dow. The ENERG-ICE project has been
presented to some appliance manufacturers globally generating a lot of
interest. Some of them have shown high interest on the demonstration of the
technology feasibility for this industry segment and, as anticipated, five of
them accepted to run the Lab demonstrations in the pilot plant when ready.
The detailed demonstration activity and results for each of these five
appliance producers are collected in the chapters 8 and 9 of this report.
As anticipated, an important element of the technology demonstration is the
confidentiality of the data generated for each of the producer involved, so a
23
non-disclosure agreement was proposed and signed among the Energ-Ice
partners and the appliance producer.
7.6.
Action 6: Construction of Pilot Plant (AFROS with CRIOS)
Start date: 1st January 2010/End date: 30st November 2010/ Status: Completed
The Action 6 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
IMPLEMENTATION PHASES
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
PHASE 1 – PILOT DEMONSTRATION AND FINETUNING
6 Construction of Pilot Plant
Crios M1 M15 15
N°
The construction of the ENERG-ICE pilot plant is the key action of the implementation
phase. It was successfully completed within the deadline in order to have enough time for
the agreed demonstrations.
A6
Deliverables
Description
1
Pilot Plant Construction
Equipments, piping and instrumentations
assembled tested and operational.
2
Plant HSE Manual & Procedures
Safety manual, risk assessment
preparation of working procedures
Tasks completed and tangible results:
A6
Deliverables
Results
1
Pilot Plant Construction
Report attached as 7.6.1
2
Plant HSE Manual & Procedures
Manual attached in the Annexes
7.6.1.
Deliverable A6-1: Pilot Plant Construction
The pilot plant had to support both technically and mechanically the PU foaming taking
place under vacuum environment. The Action 6 consisted on the assembling of the
following items into a pilot working line:
6.1 A large refrigerator fixture suitable to receive refrigerators with various
dimensions and able to maintain controlled vacuum (wider size refrigerators are
becoming more and more popular and diffused)
6.2 An existing metering unit (high pressure PU injection machine)
6.3 A new mixing heads of the same type of those employed in the market
6.4 A new premix unit for preparation of the chemicals
6.5 The fabrication of a new fixture - Roto-jig type - for industrial demonstrations
Pilot plant items:
a) Single stage wide size fixture for the vacuum assisted foaming
24
and
As soon as the first potential customer showed a serious interest for the ENERGICE demonstration campaign it was necessary to order a basic fixture (manually
operated) with the following characteristics:
•
Suitable adjustable size for large refrigerators models
•
adaptability to different plugs (refrigerators core-mold part) and refrigerators
width
•
heated walls and suitable for the vacuum depression
•
special sealing system to maintain constant vacuum (for vacuum assisted
injection)
•
safe handling of flammable blowing agents (pentane protected)
•
mix head support adaptable to different mix heads models
The drawings of these parts are shown in the report of Action 5, attached the real part as
they have been produced and assembled into the pilot line.
The single fixture:
Details of fixture sealing system:
25
The two mix-heads selected for the ENERG-ICE project:
FPL 24 HP
JET-LESS 24
The blending unit for chemicals, the multi easy froth station:
26
The Roto-jig fixture type:
27
The complete pilot plant:
As described, the pilot plant was assembled and completed within AFROS, using
mechanical and pneumatic parts stored in the warehouse. The AFROS procedure to
28
purchase these parts, store and collect them for the pilot plant construction is shown in
the following scheme:
Start
ENERG-ICE
PILOT PLANT
7.7.
End
1.
A production order is
required/generated
2.
The technical
department assigns a
production code
6.
The materials are
tested, assembled and
delivered according to
the order
3.
The purchase
department orders the
materials required
5.
The materials required
are unloaded and
assigned to the order
4.
The materials arrives
and is stored in the
warehouse
Action 7: Fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process
Start date: 1st March 2010 / End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
The Action 7 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
Fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process
DOW M3 M39 37
7
(w ith AFROS)
N°
I
II
2010
III
IV
I
II
2011
III
IV
I
II
2012
III
IV
2013
I
ENERG-ICE technology is an innovative PU foaming technology to produce refrigerator
with better energy efficiency that combines vacuum assisted process, developed by
Afros/Crios, with an innovative chemistry developed by Dow. The fine tuning of
process and chemistry has been carried out as an interactive process between the two
laboratories in Dow and Afros/Cannon; it can be summarize in following steps:
1. Dow developed the new formulations modifying the PU chemistry (Lab
experiment)
2. The new formulations were tested in Afros/Cannon pilot line to produce cabinets,
doors and panels with ENERG-ICE technology (Industrial Validation)
3. These cabinets, doors and panels were tested in terms of foam properties and, for
cabinets and doors only, for RHL performance
4. The results were collected and analyzed to decide how to proceed ahead
5. Did we achieve the desired target?
o Yes? – Fine tuning completed
o No? – Return to step 1
The fine tune process criteria is summarized in the below picture.
29
Final
Industrial Validation
Results
P
Vacuum tank
Vacuum pump
Injection
Brett mold
Chemistry
development &
Process fine-tuning
Energ-Ice Cabinets
&doors production
Industrial Validation
Correggio Labs
Cannon
Thanks to this interactive process between partners we could develop several ENERGICE formulations tailor made on customer requirements; some of these (6 + an
experimental ones) were selected to be tested at the pilot plant in Afros-Cannon. Most of
the chemistries had been developed using the cyclo-pentane as sole blowing agent. In the
final phase of the project, alternate chemistry development using a new blowing agent
with low GWP (<11, GWP of Cyclo-pentane) was completed to perform a trial at AfrosCannon pilot plant according to a customer request; in the case, a mixture of the new BA
and cyclo-pentane was used.
The Action 7 deliverables are reported in the following table:
A7
1
A7
1
Deliverables
Description
Report on pilot trails and laboratory test
Report on DOW laboratory tests of results performed at DOW laboratories
the pilot demonstration phase
during activity 8.
Deliverables
Results
Report on DOW laboratory tests of
the pilot demonstration phase
The attached report on DOW laboratory test of the pilot plant demonstration phase
summarizes the iterative fine-tuning and development of the foam chemistry and of the foaming
process.
The plan included the definition of at least 4 different formulations satisfying the industry
market needs and corresponding adaptations to the manufacturing process:
• at least 3 formulations using HCs as blowing agents and one using one of the
next generation BAs, also called HFOs, having low GWP
The chemistry development was a continuous fine tuning process associated with the
application of vacuum to the foaming process which culminated in:
• Six ENERG-ICE formulations plus an experimental one selected to be tested at
the pilot plant of Afros-Cannon, with two blowing agents: pure cyclopentane and
a new BA with low GWP also used in mixture with cyclopentane.
The ENERG-ICE formulations developed are summarized in the following table:
30
Type of Blowing agent
Type of technology
Formulation
Customer
Data of Trial
A
JUL_2010
B
OCT_2010
C
OCT_2010
B
MAR_2011
C
JUL _2011
D
SEP_2011
B
NOV_2011
B
JAN_2012
E
MAY_2012
E
NOV_2012
Process fine tuning
OCT_2012
CP
502
503
503,02
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Energ-Ice
504
504,02
BA new
CP
505
505
EXP
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
All details explained in the report attached in the deliverables table.
7.8.
Action 8: Sample Testing and Validation of Results
Start date: 1st November 2010 / End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
The Action 8 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
Sample Testing and Validation of Results
8
Afros M5 M39 35
(w ith DOW)
N°
I
II
2010
III
IV
I
II
2011
III
IV
I
II
2012
III
IV
2013
I
This action was successfully completed proving the concept of ENERG-ICE process
quality and consistency at the Afros-Canon pilot plant, and demonstrating the technology
advantages in terms of insulation properties for appliance refrigerated cabinets. Customer
A was selected for the scope, we were able to demonstrate that:
•
Cabinets can be produced with Energ-Ice technology without process difficulties
•
Cabinets showed good quality
•
4% shot weight reduction vs. low k system reference was achieved
•
Cabinets showed good long term stability
•
Average KF at 10°C was 19.2 mW/m.K
•
6.7% RHL improvement vs. standard k system (today’s Customer A reference)
was achieved.
Those results obtained with Customer A cabinets, represent a promising start; the key
performance requirements such as energy improvement and other foam properties were
successfully achieved as desired giving an encouraging insight into a successful
prosecution of the project.
The results achieved for this action are reported in the following table (additional details
are reported in the sub-chapters):
A8
1
Deliverables
Description
Report on laboratory tests of Analysis and validation of test results
the pilot demonstration phase for comparison with energy efficiency
31
2
of commercially available refrigerators.
(DOW-AFROS)
RHL test results of pilot scale
Test results on at least 8 samples.
testing
A8
1
2
Deliverables
Results
Report on laboratory tests of
the pilot demonstration phase
(DOW-AFROS)
RHL test results of pilot scale
testing
Customer A provided 40 cabinets to perform the ENERG-ICE trial; 40 injection trials on
cabinet samples were performed as detailed in the attached report; 8 samples were tested
at Gavirate AE Lab in terms of RHL.
It is important to remind one of the critical aspects of the ENERG-ICE project faced
during the customer approach and enrollment into the project validation acceptance: all
the refrigerators producers who accepted to test their units for new technology validation
in the ENERG-ICE pilot plant asked to be protected by signing a Non-Disclosure
Secrecy Agreement to avoid any information leak to other parties. That is well
understood, it’s expected that any producer would like to avoid that the appliance
industry community (its own competitors) knows about the level of energy saving
achieved for a certain model sold in the market and therefore also the level of energy
achieved. The energy label identifies a class of energy performance but not necessarily
the real energy level of a given product, especially for new models under development to
be launched in the market. For this reason, the ENERG-ICE project management board
had decided to label the producers who have accepted the demonstration program as A,
B, C, D, and E.
7.9.
Action 9: Industrial Validation
The Action 9 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
N°
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
III
IV
I
I
II
I
II
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PHASE 2 – INDUSTRIAL VALIDATION AND DEMONSTRATION
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
9 Industrial Validation (w ith DOW)
Afros
M7
M39
33
Start date: 1st Jul 2010 / End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
Action 9 was successfully completed performing several industrial validations of
ENERG-ICE technology in the Afros-Cannon pilot plant. During the 39 months of
project life, 5 Global Appliance producers accepted to run the industrial validation to
verify and demonstrate the technology advantages in terms of insulation properties
assuring good foaming process. In summary:
-10 validation trials were performed (plus an additional process fine tuning trial without
any appliance producer)
-5 Global Appliance manufacturers were involved
32
-390 injection trials were performed
-More than 240 Lab test were performed (for each analyzed cabinet or door density and CS
distribution, and at least one lambda sample were measured)
-66 RHL tests were performed
-6 ENERG-ICE formulations + an experimental one were developed and tested
-2 different BAs were employed, CP and a new BA with low GWP
This extensive industrial validation work allowed demonstrating the feasibility of the
ENERG-ICE technology to foam refrigerators and freezers while obtaining the following
results against current foaming technologies:
-8% RHL improvement if CP is employed
-11% RHL improvement if the new BA with low GWP is employed
In both cases foam mechanical properties and long term stability were maintained.
This is fully matching the original project target of improving the insulation
efficiency up to 10% vs. reference of the market. It’s a great achievement giving a
path forward for future additional improvements for the cold appliance industry.
ENERG-ICE doors were also produced validating the suitability of this technology for
this industry segment. The whole set of results were statistically analyzed validating
correlations between refrigerator’s RHL, PU foam thermal conductivity (lambda, KF)
and reactivity (gel time).
Finally, the combination of the ENERG-ICE technology to the variable output injection
technology was validated. The following table lists the industrial validation trials
performed at Afros-Cannon pilot plant:
Customer
Data of Trial
A
B
B
C
C
D
B
B
E
E
Process fine tuning
JUL_2010
OCT_2010
MAR_2011
OCT_2010
JUL _2011
SEP_2011
NOV_2011
JAN_2012
MAY_2012
NOV_2012
OCT_2012
#injection trial
(cabinet/ door/
panel)
SbS_cabinet
40
Combi _cabinet
30
Combi _cabinet
30
Refrigerator_cabinet
50
Refrigerator_cabinet
39
Combi _cabinet
40
Door
69
Door
12
Combi _cabinet
34
Combi (cabinet 3 cavities)
30
panel
16
TOT
390
Type of Model
The first demonstration took place in July 2010, the last one in October 2012.
The table below lists the results achieved in terms of RHL that are graphically collected
in the following picture:
33
A
B
B1
C
C1
D
E
E1
E1 newBA
RHL (%)
7,2
3,5
4,5
3,5
6,2
8,1
7,5
7
10,5
Door* (%)
0,5
1,5
1,5
1,5
1,5
0,5
0,5
0,5
1
RHL reference
3
3
4
4
4
RHL results
3,7
2
3
2
4,7
4,6
3
2,5
5,5
The last column on the right hand side indicates the RHL data as they were measured in
AE Lab. The RHL reference column indicates the value to add to the experimentally
measured RHL when the reference system was a low k 3% or low k 4%. The RHL door
column is the value related to the ENERG-ICE doors. Final RHL % gain highlighted in
the blue column is the sum of these contributions.
12
10
R
H 8
L 6
(
)
%
Door* (%)
4
RHL cabinet (%)
2
0
Customer
The % RHL improvements expressed on the Y axis is the average gain measured for both
compartments of the refrigerator foamed with ENERG-ICE formulation. The doors used
to perform the RHL were always those from the current customer production, so
produced with reference materials. The green section of the graph bars reflects the door
contribution if foamed with ENERG-ICE. It is worthy to reiterate, as already explained in
the section 7.7, that the fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process project phase progressed in
parallel with industrial validation phase.
The actions 9 deliverables and the results achieved in this project phase are reported in
the following tables:
A9
Deliverables
Description
1
Execution of at least 400 trials and at least Injection tests on cabinet of refrigerators and
80 lab tests (AFROS)
freezers.
2
Execution of at least 240 lab test (DOW)
3
RHL test results of industrial validation
Analysis of physical and chemical
properties.
Test results on at least 40 samples.
Deliverables
Results
A9
34
1
Execution of at least 400 trials and at least
80 lab tests (AFROS)
2
Execution of at least 240 lab test (DOW)
Included into the report attached above
3
RHL test results of industrial validation
Included into the report attached above
An important sub-action is the waste disposal of chemicals and of tested cabinet and/or door
(samples and parts of it) following the European waste legislation obligations (WEEE). Actually,
for each ENERG-ICE validation performed, the following wastes are produced:
-polyol component added with blowing agent, either reference or ENERG-ICE polyol, being used
for washing the line before running the validation
- polyol component added with blowing agent, either reference or ENERG-ICE polyol, being
unloaded at the ned of the validation
-PU foam samples taken from cabinets and doors dismantled for testing
-metal parts from cabinets and doors sides dismantled for testing
-plastic parts from cabinets and doors dismantled for testing
-mixture of PU foam, plastics and metal parts adhering one to another from cabinets and doors
dismantled for testing
The same is happening in Dow R&D lab of Correggio during ENERG-ICE formulation
development and cabinets and doors testing. Waste disposal procedure utilized:
7.10.
Action 10: Evaluation of Demonstration: Environmental Benefit and
Market Impact
The Action 10 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract:
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
2010
2011
2012
2013
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
II
III
IV
I
Action
Resp Start Finish Month
PHASE 2 – INDUSTRIAL VALIDATION AND DEMONSTRATION
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
Evaluation of Demonstration (w ith
M7 M39 33
10
DOW
M13 M38 15
AFROS)
N°
Start date: 1st Jul 2010 / End date: 28th February 2013/ Status: Completed
•
Conclusions of preliminary trials of the pilot demonstration phase:
It has been demonstrated that the ENERG-ICE technology to foam refrigerators and
freezers making use of a controlled reduced in-mold pressure when the appliance is
injected, enables the use of tailor-made fast reactive PU foam systems offering an
advanced combination of excellent thermal insulation performance with a significant
productivity improvement vs. current foaming technologies.
The pilot demonstration phase was instrumental to develop a new refrigerator’s fixture
concept with gaskets able to maintain the in-mold vacuum at the desired level during the
injection; additionally, the double refrigerator’s fixture called Roto-jig was developed to
35
maximize the ENERG-ICE capability in terms of productivity and different types of mixheads were compared to process fast reactive systems with good results.
On the chemical side, this phase was of high importance to fine tune the chemistry of
ENERG-ICE formulations, since the process under vacuum environment allows easier
PU foam flow; the formulation changes were validated within Dow R&D Lab and tested
and modified in the pilot plan before inviting any producer for industrial validation with
real refrigerators.
Last but not least, the continuous learning during this phase allowed Afros-Cannon to
think of a modified injection process employing variable output along the injection time.
This technique allows better distributing the foam flow path at the real beginning of the
PU reaction, helping the foam distribution into the cabinet’s cavity to be filled while
further enhancing fast reactive PU system effectiveness; in the case, less PU material is
necessary to fill properly the cavity, resulting in an economically cost improvement for
the refrigerator’s producer also combined with reduced CO2 emission, giving an
environmental friendly characteristic to the ENERG-ICE foaming technology (this has
been demonstrated with the Life Cycle Assessment – LCA- of the process as described
later on).
•
Final conclusions of the industrial validation phase:
The achievements of the pilot demonstration phase were validated by injecting real
refrigerators of customer A, the first domestic appliance produce accepting to participate
to the ENERG-ICE demonstration. Customer A refrigerators injected with ENERG-ICE
foam system showed >7% RHL improvement vs. baseline of their current production,
giving a promising insight into the achievement of the final project target of 10% RHL
improvement.
In conclusion, at the end of the project, after running 10 validation trials at the ENERGICE pilot plant, injecting 390 real refrigerators from 5 global producers, performing more
than 240 laboratory tests measuring foam properties from injected refrigerators and doors (mainly
density, compressive strength and foam thermal conductivity) and, finally, measuring the
refrigerator’s energy efficiency as RHL at an external independent and certified Laboratory
(66 RHL tests were performed at AE Lab, Gavirate, Italy), we can conclude that:

The ENERG-ICE project has been successfully completed demonstrating to the
appliance industry that a new injection technology feasible for domestic appliance
insulation can achieve:
o 8% PU insulation efficiency improvement (measured by RHL) if
Cyclopentane blowing agent is employed
o 11% PU insulation efficiency improvement (measured by RHL) if a
blowing of new generation having low GWP is employed
In both cases foam mechanical properties and long term stability are maintained giving
the appliance industry a viable and realistic opportunity to up-scale their production
facilities to a more environmental friendly process.

This is fully matching the original project target of demonstrating that
it’s possible to improve the insulation efficiency of domestic refrigerators
36
up to 10% vs. reference of today’s market with respect to energy and ecodesign European legislations.
It’s a great achievement giving a path forward for future additional improvements for the
cold appliance industry. All RHL results are summarized in the following graph:
12
10
R
H 8
L 6
(
)
%
Door* (%)
4
RHL cabinet (%)
2
0
Customer
•
Final results of Life Cycle Assessment:
The LCA study includes models for the complete refrigerators production process in
Europe for two specific polyurethane foams for use in a Class A residential refrigerator,
the ENERG-ICE foam and the current reference PU foam, and included all life cycle
stages.
It is limited to these foams, and in particular to the use of Cyclopentane as a blowing
agent, making sure it’s an “apple to apple” comparison. The study did not include other
aspects of the refrigerator design or use that could impact performance (drink dispenser,
ice cubes device presence, different electronics, and so on).
Electricity consumption during the use phase of a refrigerator is the dominant source of
potential environmental impacts. Use of insulation with improved performance such the
one offered by ENERG-ICE foam technology is a way to reduce burdens from use of
refrigerators.
The new technology allows for a measured 10% improvement in PU energy efficiency,
which translates in about 10% less electricity use (all other things remaining the same)
giving 10% reduction in all potential cradle-to-grave impacts:
37
Due to the dominance of the refrigerator use phase, uncertainty about specific production
or end-of-life inputs, including the choices of background data sets, would not have a
significant impact on the results.
On a cradle-to-gate perspective, the new technology offers a small but plausible
advantage in all impacts considered, primarily due to the less mass required to get the
same performance, both insulation and structural. The benefit of reduction in heat and
power to the process was small compared to the benefit from the reduced mass.
•
Main conclusions from the market study / impact scenario:
The detailed market study is well explained in the deliverable attached; however the
impact scenario of the ENERG-ICE technology adoption by the European appliance
industry can be understood taking a look to the attached graph showing an historical view
of the refrigerators and freezers consumer uptake in terms of high efficiency and the
evolution up to 2018 (source CECED, European Association of Appliances Producers).
The numbers on the bars indicate the units in million. As can be seen, only class A+
refrigerators are present in 2013, and only class A++ and A+++ refrigerators will survive
in 2017.
38
The penetration of the high efficiency classes is significantly accelerated by the EU
Community energy legislations; technology innovation is the sole way to match it.
ENERG-ICE can give the Appliance industry a great contribution from insulation
material point of view since the classes differ one to another by 15%, so having a PU
technology offering already 10% of the needed improvement would allow the industry to
gain the remaining 5% to achieve the next efficiency class from other energy impact
refrigerator’s options (such as a more efficient compressor, better refrigerant or improved
thermodynamic of the evaporator/condenser circuit).
Hypothesizing to the extreme, the adoption of ENERG-ICE technology for all European
refrigerators production would accelerate the energy labeling implementation scenario
dictated by the EU legislation of 2-3 year, meaning:
10% energy efficiency improvement from ENERG-ICE PU technology +
additional 5% energy efficiency improvement from compressor/refrigerant
optimization allow to gain a new energy class, e.g. A+ becomes A++
 The 62 million units produced and forecasted as A+ in 2013 would become
A++
 Those 62 million units A++ are, so far, forecasted for 2017, so, even taking
into consideration a 70% of success as yielded market introduction, the
energy classes improvement required by the legislation could be speeded up
of 2-3 years
Deliverables of action 10 and results achieved:

A10 Deliverables
1
Description
Mid-term evaluation report defining the replication
potential of the technology in Europe, China, Turkey,
South and North America and outlining a strategy for
Mid-term evaluation market introduction. The evaluation report of this
report (DOW-AFROS) activity will be presented at the mid-term workshop.
Preparation of summary dissemination report for
Industrial stakeholders.
2
Final evaluation report showing the achieved
Final evaluation report
insulation performances and market acceptance of the
on
the
industrial
new PU insulation foam and investigating the
validation
phase
replication potential. This study will be presented at
(DOW-AFROS)
the final conference.
3
Development of 2 market introduction impact
Market introduction scenarios, in Europe and worldwide, showcasing the
impact
scenarios environmental benefit of market uptake of higher
performing cold appliances than today. This study will
(DOW-AFROS)
be presented at the final conference.
A10 Deliverables
Results
39
1
Mid-term evaluation
report (DOW-AFROS)
2
Final evaluation report
on
the
industrial
validation
phase
(DOW-AFROS)
3
Market introduction
impact
scenarios
(DOW-AFROS)
7.11.
Action 11: Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA, Layman’s Report
The Action 11 progresses are indicated in the following Gantt chart extract
ENERG-ICE (start date 1st January 2010)
DISSEMINATION
Feder
11 Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA
2010
2011
2012
2013
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
M1
M39
39
Start date: 1st January 2010 / End date: 31st March 2013/ Status: Completed
In the ENERG-ICE project plan, the dissemination activities were planned with the
following deliverables:
A11
Deliverables
Description
1
Launch of the initiative “Eco-design approaches
and energy efficiency solutions in the European
Chemical Industry”
Initiative for collecting successful experiences
(e.g. voluntary press releases or article
abstracts) of making the European Chemical
Industry more sustainable. Dissemination will
occur through publication of newsletters in
English and Italian.
Publication of the collection of the most shining
examples of: “Eco-design approaches and
energy efficiency solutions in the European
Chemical Industry”
Collection provided by the industrial
stakeholders involved (on their voluntary
request) in the initiative.
3
Roadmap document for a Sustainable Chemical
Industry (in collaboration with DOW, AFROS
and involvement of CEFIC)
A report showing where eco-design
approaches and/or solutions for energy
efficiency are most needed in the processes or
products of the European Chemical Industry.
This document will be elaborated with
contribution from the FEDERCHIMICA
partner.
4
“The Chemical Industry and its contribution to
the Eco-design of Energy Using Products”
1-day mid-term conference in Milan
2
5
“Eco-design and energy efficiency in the
European Chemical Industry and Implications
40
1-day final Conference in Milan
of the Kyoto Protocol”
Preparation of brochures, newsletters and final
poster
Brochures will be prepared both in Italian and
English. Planned quantity: 2.000 before the
mid-term workshop and 2.500 before the final
conference. FEDERCHIMICA will also
disseminate the project through its own
newsletter (in Italian). A poster in English will
be prepared for the final conference to
showcase the activities and the results of the
project.
7
Dissemination to workshops
DOW and CANNON will be invited to take
part to 2 workshops organized by
FEDERCHIMICA related to Responsible
Care Programme
8
Layman’s report
As requested by the EC
A11
Deliverables
Results
1
Launch of the initiative “Eco-design approaches
and energy efficiency solutions in the European
Chemical Industry”
Initiative launched during the 5th Int.
TACEC Congress, Milano, March 15th,
2011.
2
Publication of the collection of the most shining
examples of: “Eco-design approaches and
energy efficiency solutions in the European
Chemical Industry”
3
Roadmap document for a Sustainable Chemical
Industry (in collaboration with DOW, AFROS
and involvement of CEFIC)
4
“The Chemical Industry and its contribution to
the Eco-design of Energy Using Products”
5
“Eco-design and energy efficiency in the
European Chemical Industry and Implications
of the Kyoto Protocol”
6
Preparation of brochures, newsletters and final
poster
6
7
Dissemination to workshops
8
Layman’s report
Done at CHEM-MED Int. Chemical
Event held in Milan/Italy, 5th-7th October
2011
Done during the 16th Int. TACEC
Congress, Milano, May 23rd, 2013
Done, attached below
Done during the 8th Italian Responsible
Care Annual meeting, Rome, June 22nd,
2010 and at the 10th RC Coordinator
meeting, Bologna, June 12th-13th, 2012
The dissemination activities were organized to cover the whole project life with regular
updates and promotion of the ENERG-ICE project status and results at international
conferences, fairs and workshops usually attended by the refrigeration and chemical
industries players.
41
Materials prepared and special events organized to promote ENERG-ICE:

ENERG-ICE Poster:

ENERG-ICE Brochure:

ENERG-ICE NewsletterS from Federchimica:
Sent by e-mail to newsletter
subscribers (8,700 contacts)
42

ENERG-ICE Mid-Term Conference at CHEM-MED

Example of Responsible Care Meeting:
ENERG-ICE presentations given at various external events are summarized in the table
below:
43
Date of initiative
Initiative
23 June 2010
Responsible Care Conference, Rome
20 July 2010
TACEC International Workshop, Milan
2010
Catalyst for Sustainable Development Conference, Rome
6 October 2011
CHEM-MED International Chemistry Fair, Milan, ENERG-ICE
Mid-term Conference
25 May 2012
GreenWeek European Commission Expo, Bruxelles
12 June 2012
Responsible Care Conference, Bologna
23 may 2013
TACEC International Workshop, Milan, ENERG-ICE Final
Conference
7.12.
8.
Action 12: After LIFE Communication Plan
EVALUATION AND CONCLUSIONS
8.1.
Project implementation
The ENERG-ICE project has been successfully completed achieving the original targets.
We could demonstrate that:
•
•
•
It is possible to implement a new insulation technology to inject cold appliances
such as refrigerators and freezers using vacuum assisted injection providing
cost-effective, eco-design, environmental-friendly and superior energy savings
The ENERG-ICE pilot plant was built to inject real refrigerators and freezers
provided by global appliance producers; we could demonstrate the achievement
of the following results against current foaming technologies:
o 8% PU energy efficiency improvement with Cyclopentane blowing
agent
o 11% PU energy efficiency improvement with new blowing agent having
low GWP (comparable to that of Cyclopentane)
Superior eco-design and environmental friendly production technology as
certified by the Life Cycle Analysis performed:
o The ENERG-ICE technology allows for a measured 10% less electricity
use (all other things remaining the same) which translates to about 10%
reduction in all potential cradle-to-grave impacts assessment
Additional benefits the ENERG-ICE team could demonstrate are the following:
44
•
•
•
•
Optimized distribution of foam density throughout the entire cabinet’s cavity to
insulate.
Reduction of polymerization time per foaming station, cut nearly in half due to
the possibility of using high reactivity formulations providing a significantly
higher productivity
Reduced plant's floor space in half when using the new “twin” foaming fixture the RotoJig – specifically conceived for this technology
Demonstration that the vacuum-assisted technology can be implemented while
guarantee safety of operations and ease of process
8.2.
Analysis of long-term benefits
Long term benefits can be tackled in three ways:
•
•
•
Environmental benefits
Long-term sustainability of technology
Replicability to other technologies and markets
8.2.1.
Environmental benefits
The environmental benefits of ENERG-ICE technology can be translated into carbon
footprint reduction due to the CO 2 emission savings as a consequence of the electrical
energy savings.
The potential to reduce the Energy consumption of Cold Appliances of up to 10%, i.e.
30-35 kWh/yr for Class A refrigerators equivalent to 0,018-0,021 BOE/yr (per sold
working unit) reducing the carbon footprint of 0,008-0,009 tCO2eq/yr.
1 BOE = 6,1 GJ = 1694,4 kWh/yr = 5,78 * 106 BTU = 0,432 t CO2 eq
Since ENERG-ICE can save 8 kg of CO 2 emissions per year per appliance, considering
the refrigerators and freezers production worldwide of about 175 millions units (see data
from Action 4 – Deliverable 5: Market Replication Potential), the market potential is to
save 1.4 million tons of CO 2 emissions each year – the equivalent of taking 213,000 cars
off the road.
Focus on Europe, the potential impact on Europe of 10% energy saving, assuming a 20%
market share on the base of 22,5 million units (refrigerators and freezers) sold in 2013 in
Europe, is estimated at:
8 kg CO2 * 22.500.000 units/y*0,2 = 36.000 tons of CO2 saved
The estimated amount from LIFE08 ENV/IT/000411 project submission was a minimum
of 135,3 GWh/yr, equivalent to 79 855 BOE/yr or 34 499 t CO2eq /yr saved, so very close to
what we could demonstrate. Nowadays, the forecasted unit demand in Europe is the
following:
2012 = 22.396
2013 = 22.973
2014 = 23.653 millions units/y
Additional saving are foreseen if HCFCs and HFCs blown foam are replaced by
ENERG-ICE using either Cyclopentane or a new blowing agent with low GWP (<11,
45
value for CP). The potential impact of replacing HCFCs and HCF blown foams
worldwide with cyclopentane assuming only a 10% market share on nearly 50 million
units sold in 2015 (rounded down estimation) on the worldwide market is estimated in
nearly 5 500 000 t CO2eq /yr saved: i.e. 160 times greater than the benefit resulting from
energy savings in Europe due to the difference of GWP values:
Blowing Agent
Ozone Depletion Potential
(ODP)
Global Warming Potential
(GWP, 100 years)
HCFC-141b
0.11
630
HFC-134a
0
1300
HFC-245fa
0
1030
Cylopentane
0
11
New BA with low GWP
0
9.4
8.2.2.
Long-term sustainability of technology
The long term sustainability of the ENERG-ICE project is given by the LCA assessment
that, limited to the sole PU foam manufacturing and to the effect of thermal conductivity
of PU foam on refrigeration efficiency (based on lab test results of the pilot and industrial
validation phases), shows how sustainable is the new technology offer.
The LCA study performed includes models for the complete production process in EU
for two specific PU foams in use for Class A refrigerator including all life cycle stages; it
is limited to the comparison of foams with c-pentane as blowing agent in the current and
new ENERG-ICE technology. Other aspects of the refrigerator design or use that could
impact performance are not included.
Electricity consumption during the use phase of a refrigerator is the dominant source of
potential environmental impacts. The new technology allows for a measured 10% less
electricity use (all other things remaining the same) which translates to about 10%
reductions in all potential cradle-to-grave impacts as shown in the graph below:
46
On a cradle-to-gate perspective, the new technology offers a small but plausible
advantage in all impacts considered, primarily due to the less mass required to get the
same performance:
The benefit of reduction in heat and power to the process was small compared to the
benefit from the reduced mass.
8.2.3.
Replicability to other technology and markets
The ENERG-ICE technology was demonstrated as a suitable PU technology solution to
efficiency insulate cold appliances; refrigerators and freezers are produced injecting the
PU foam with a discontinuous process so, in principle, any discontinuous process where
insulation items are produced could test ENERG-ICE technology.
Among others, all these industry segments could benefit from ENERG-ICE:
•
Building insulation
47
•
•
•
•
9.
Cold chain
Refrigerated transportation
Discontinuous panels production
Water heater insulation
FINANCIAL REPORT
Cost incurred
9.1.
Budget breakdown
categories
Total cost in €
1. Personnel
Eligible Cost in €
Costs incurred from
% of total
%Incurred
the start date to eligible costs costs/eligible
30.06.13 in €
costs
1.748.200,00 €
1.695.527,46 €
62%
97%
2. Travel and subsistence
131.600,00 €
81.664,56 €
3%
62%
3. External assistance
138.702,00 €
60.444,53 €
2%
44%
4. Durable goods
Infrastructure
0,00 €
0,00 €
0,00 €
0%
0%
Equipment
250.000,00 €
125.000,00 €
64.489,87 €
2%
52%
Prototype
400.000,00 €
400.000,00 €
448.295,84 €
16%
112%
0,00 €
0,00 €
0%
0%
22.680,00 €
9.741,09 €
0%
43%
0,00 €
643,65 €
0%
0%
178.925,00 €
165.256,49 €
6%
92%
2.745.107,00 €
2.526.063,48 €
92%
5. Land purchase / longterm lease
6. Consumables
7. Other Costs
8. Overheads
TOTAL
2.870.107,00 €
Total cost:
Total incurred costs in the project lifetime have reached 92% of the budget costs: main
deviations are related to Travels and subsistence and External assistance, Consumables.
Reasons are explained below.
48
Personnel costs:
Totalized 97% of foreseen costs, fairly in line with expectations and compatible with the
current years cost control actions that any company is implementing, comprising
reduction of time consuming travels and use of communication tools instead.
Travel:
Totalized 62% of foreseen costs: again this is a result of reducing travels costs, use of
low cost flights, use of communication tools for conferencing instead of face to face
meetings
External assistance:
Total of 44% of foreseen costs: some activities have been done by using internal
resources rather than external services. For example, the LCA was supposed to be done
by contracting a third party company, while this was realized by Dow Expert (about 200
men hours, whose cost was not considered as pertaining to a different foreign legal entity
than Dow Italia) and then certified by an external company (PE International).
Equipment:
With respect to budget, durable equipments costs were foreseen for the upgrade of an
existing foaming machine for producing ENERG-ICE PU panels in Dow laboratory in
Correggio. This modification was budgeted at a cost of 128.979 € of which only three
years depreciation have been considered as eligible costs (64.489€). A cost saving
analysis was done that led to the implementation of minor equipment modification, able
to achieve without compromises of the technical results needed for assessing the
technical success of the project. Depreciation rates applied in according to Italian
national law to equipment items
Prototype:
The budget dedicated to “proptotypes” refers to the purchase of a vacuum Brett mold
specifically designed for the project. Moreover, the software/hardware modification of
the pre-existing high pressure machine to use the variable output device was necessary
for the project execution.
Consumables:
Ended at 43% of the foreseen costs.
Ended low respect budget: main reason is the overestimation of the budget costs for the
polyurethane system chemical products to be used in the pre-industrial demonstration
phase of the project. It has to be said that, as explained in the Final Report, only 5
producers did accept to run the demonstrations limiting the amount of consumable
needed.
49
With regards to the purchase of chemical consumables and other consumables used for the
ENERG-ICE foam experiments and, later on, for the demonstrations at the pilot plant, it is done
inside our Warehouse.
Consumables with missing invoices are related to the chemical materials used for the
development of the new product and the testing. This material is taken from the inventory
of the company and so not invoiced. We provided with the Final report a detailed list of
chemicals with dates of unloading from the inventory, date of use in the tests, type of
chemical, average standard cost as inquired from internal documents, with the evaluation
of the total material used for internal and external trials.
Other costs:
Deviation mainly due to overestimation of needed communication events needed project
meetings and related catering costs.
Overheads costs:
Ended at 92% of foreseen costs, as they are capped at 7% of sum of other costs so they
are 92% of the budget.
Action
9.2.
Personnel
1 € 101.443,46
2 € 101.684,80
3
€ 34.091,94
4
€ 49.415,98
5 € 134.192,51
6 € 133.931,15
7 € 235.202,22
8 € 169.712,52
9 € 658.377,98
10
€ 40.948,81
11
€ 36.526,11
12
€ 0,00
Total € 1.695.527,46
Travel
€9.280,19
€24.515,49
€9.828,98
€5.390,71
€10.583,64
Analysis of costs by action
External
assistance
Infrastructure
Equipm ent
€ 81.664,56
Landpurchase
Lease
of land
Consum ables
€ 3.000,00
€5.128,10
€4.705,00
€59.784,87
€19.200,00
€22.316,43
€ 10.800,00
€ 60.444,53
Other direct
costs
€249,65
€1.740,40
€20.031,14
€30,74
€263,27
Prototype
€28.355,84
€8.330,81
€382.144,00
€25.944,00
€1.410,28
€11.852,00
€ 0,00
€ 64.489,87
€ 448.295,84
50
€314,00
€80,00
€ 0,00
€ 0,00
€ 9.741,09
€ 643,65
Total with Overhead
Overheads
Total
€ 113.973,30
€ 131.328,38
€ 43.920,92
€ 91.493,34
€ 149.481,15
€ 575.860,01
€ 264.610,90
€ 188.912,52
€ 700.725,55
€ 63.711,55
€ 36.789,38
€ 0,00
€ 2.360.806,99
€ 165.256,49 € 2.526.063,48
Spent so far
(eligible)
Action number and name
Remaining
Projected final
cost
Action 1-Total Project Management by DOW-DOW DC
€ 113.973,30
€ 7.093,30
€ 106.880,00
Action 2-Project Management by AFROS-CRIOS
€ 131.328,38
€ 31.828,38
€ 99.500,00
Action 3-Project Monitoring (DOW)
€ 43.920,92
€ 23.760,92
€ 20.160,00
Action 4-Preparation of the Demonstration by DOW-DOW DC
€ 91.493,34
€ 55.006,66
€ 146.500,00
Action 5-Preparation of the Demonstration by AFROS-CRIOS
€ 149.481,15
€ 8.968,85
€ 158.450,00
Action 6-Construction of Pilot Plant (AFROS-CRIOS)
€ 575.860,01
€ 93.139,99
€ 669.000,00
Action 7-Fine-tuning of Chemistry and Process (DOW with DOW
DC-AFROS-CRIOS)
€ 264.610,90
€ 7.810,90
€ 256.800,00
Action 8-Sample Testing and Validation of Results (AFROS with
DOW)
€ 188.912,52
€ 7.862,48
€ 196.775,00
Action 9-Industrial Validation (AFROS with DOW and DOW DC)
€ 700.725,55
€ 53.611,45
€ 754.337,00
Action 10-Evaluation of Demonstration: Environmental Benefit
and Market Impact (DOW with AFROS)
€ 63.711,55
€ 248,45
€ 63.960,00
Action 11-Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA
€ 36.789,38
€ 57.030,62
€ 93.820,00
€ 0,00
€ 0,00
€ 0,00
Action 12-After LIFE Communication Plan (FEDERCHIMICA WITH
DOW)
TOTAL € 2.360.806,99 € 205.375,01 € 2.566.182,00
Overheads
€ 165.256,49
Spent so far
106,64%
131,99%
217,86%
62,45%
94,34%
86,08%
103,04%
96,00%
92,89%
99,61%
39,21%
0,00%
92,00%
€ 178.925,00
TOTAL € 2.526.063,48
Action number
Spent so far
%
€ 2.745.107,00
Remaining
Projected final
cost
Spent so far
%
Some remarks about the final budget expenditures and the rationale behind the deviations
against the initial budget plan.
First of all the budget plan is, as said, a plan, meaning an estimated budget foreseen as
the project evolution is expected to take place, however some deviations are expected.
By action:
1) Total project management by DOW-DOW DC: total expenditures well in line
with foreseen budget.
2) Total project management by AFROS-CRIOS: in this case the total expenditures
went beyond the foreseen budget of about 32%. The main reason is the larger
involvement of the project management steering team to boost the interest to
producers in the first phase of the project; travelling and personnel costs were
slightly above the expected ones.
3) Project monitoring: even if the total sum of Action 3 is negligible if compared to
the total project budget (about 1%), in this case we spent more than double
compared to foreseen budget. The main reason is that we clearly made a mistake
underestimating the initial budget of the monitoring action. In such a project, the
need to monitor the construction of the pilot plant, making sure we maintained the
time schedule saving enough time for the customer demonstrations was an
essential activity needing good coordination among the partners so that several
meetings took place in AFROS location. Same as for the previous action,
personnel and travelling costs exceeded the plan.
51
4) Preparation of the demonstration by DOW-DOW DC: we spent 62% of the total
budget assigned to this action; we could save money while using internal
resources for the preliminary market campaign and dissemination activity to
promote ENERG-ICE.
5) Preparation of the demonstration by AFROS-CRIOS: total expenditures well in
line with foreseen budget.
6) Construction of pilot plant: total expenditures well in line with foreseen budget.
7) Fine-tuning of chemistry and process: total expenditures well in line with
foreseen budget.
8) Sample testing and validation of results: total expenditures well in line with
foreseen budget.
9) Industrial validations: total expenditures well in line with foreseen budget.
10) Evaluation of demonstrations: environmental benefit and market impact: total
expenditures well in line with foreseen budget.
11) Dissemination by FEDERCHIMICA: in this case the total expenditures were
significantly below the foreseen budget (only 39%). This deviation can be easily
explained by two main reasons:
a. As requested by the EU Commission with the letter dated May 2nd 2012
on the annex point 2.5.3. after the delivery of the Mid-term report, the
status of the PRJ Coordinator for Federchimica, Mr. Sergio Treichler,
need an explanation: since his function wasn’t included in the original
project document, his position has been removed and his contribution
recovered into the overheads; the two junior project disseminators of
Federchimica, Mr. E. Brena and Mrs. D. Della Giovanna, having much
lower annual gross salary, have been working successfully to complete the
action 11 which resulted in cost saving.
b. Some of the project events were organized within the Federchimica
annual organization of events so were at cost ZERO for the project. This
has also contributed to save budget that, at the beginning of the project,
was impossible to predict.
12) After life communication plan: total expenditures well in line with foreseen
budget.
9.3.
Analysis of costs by partner
Dow Italia srl
Budget breakdown categories
Costs incurred from the
start
date to 31.03.13
1. Personnel
€667.621,45
2. Travel
€46.565,43
3. External assistance
€53.516,43
4. Infrastructure
€0,00
5. Equipment
€0,00
6. Prototype
€65.496,00
7. Land purchase
€0,00
8. Lease of land
€0,00
9. Consumables
€9.741,09
10. Other direct costs
€643,65
11. Overheads
€ 59.050,88
TOTAL
€ 902.634,93
52
Eu contribution to DOW
€ 308.943,21
Dow Italia contribution
€ 593.691,72
Afros
Budget breakdown categories
1. Personnel
2. Travel
3. External assistance
4. Infrastructure
5. Equipment
6. Prototype
7. Land purchase
8. Lease of land
9. Consumables
10. Other direct costs
11. Overheads
TOTAL
Eu contribution to AFROS
Afros contribution
Costs incurred from the
start
date to 31.03.13
€882.685,05
€19.425,41
€6.928,10
€0,00
€59.784,87
€382.799,84
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€ 94.613,63
€ 1.446.236,90
€ 554.253,00
€ 891.983,90
Regarding your request 2.5.4 of the letter sent on May 2nd 2012 after the Mid-term report
delivery, an explanation is due. Mr. M. Corti of Afros did replace Mr. A. Zarantonello as PRJ
senior manager for AFROS. The responsibility hand-over started in the 2nd half of 2010 to be
completed in the beginning of 2011 when Mr. A. Zarantonello did stop working for the
project.
Crios
Budget breakdown categories
1. Personnel
2. Travel
3. External assistance
4. Infrastructure
5. Equipment
6. Prototype
7. Land purchase
8. Lease of land
9. Consumables
10. Other direct costs
11. Overheads
TOTAL
Eu contribution CRIOS
Crios contribution
Costs incurred from the
start
date to 31.03.13
€120.472,21
€15.673,72
€0,00
€0,00
€4.705,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€ 9.859,57
€ 150.710,50
€ 47.663,65
€ 103.046,85
53
Federchimica
Budget breakdown categories
Costs incurred from the
start
date to 31.03.13
TOTAL
Eu contribution FEDERCHIMICA
Federchimica contribution
€24.748,75
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€0,00
€ 1.732,41
€ 26.481,16
€ 35.128,21
-€ 8.647,05
Eu contribution
Eu contribution to DOW
Eu contribution to AFROS
Eu contribution to DIDC
Eu contribution CRIOS
Eu contribution FEDERCHIMICA
960.732,80
308.943,21
554.253,00
14.744,73
47.663,65
35.128,21
1. Personnel
2. Travel
3. External assistance
4. Infrastructure
5. Equipment
6. Prototype
7. Land purchase
8. Lease of land
9. Consumables
10. Other direct costs
11. Overheads
Accounting system
9.4.
Timesheets
Used the timesheets form suggested in the Life+ website.
Filled monthly only the daily hours dedicated to the project, as for the total worked hours
the official tool of Human Resource of Dow Italia.
The form was modified the form by inserting a row containing the number of the action
for each worked hours in a day. This is needed to compute the personnel cost of each
action of the project.
Timesheets are filled and signed by each employee and by the Project Supervisor within
one months from the reference timesheet months
More in detail about calculation of worked hours:
o To calculate the total cost of the project
o To calculate the total worked hours per annum by the employees
o To calculate the hourly cost by employee
From Jan 2009 to April 2011 Crios, Afros Federchimica and Dow (Dow to Dec 2011),
the method used for collecting worked hours is described here:
54
All the 4 partners have electronic systems in place for collecting daily presence and in
and out times for each employee.
Monthly presence sheets are available containing the worked hours:
•
Absence: Holyday actually taken,
compensation, weekends, sickness
Bank
Holydays,
Flex
time
•
Service (i.e. work done outside the company) – rated as 8 hours / day
•
Hours per employee collected monthly are summed for the total 12
months of the year to obtain the total worked hours of the year that is used
for the evaluation of the hourly cost rate.
Dow Italia:
1) For employees of category C to E the actual productive hours are collected as
they have extra time paid.
2) For employees of cat. A and B and Dirigenti, 8 hours are collected per day, as
they do not have extra time paid.
Afros and Crios:
1) For employees of cat. Dirigenti, 8 hours are collected per day, as they do not have
extra time paid.
2)
For other employees categories the actual productive hours are collected as they
have extra time paid.
Federchimica:
1) For employees of cat. A and B and Dirigenti, 8,25 hours are collected per
day(6,25 hours on Friday), as they do not have extra time paid.
2) The employees of other categories don’t participate to the project.
Starting from May 2011, the working hours collection has been improved by the partners
Crios, Afros, Federchimica and Dow Italia (from January 2012) that are now collecting
worked hours by using the Life+ monthly timesheets.
Additionally, the electronic tool made available by the 4 partners reporting the total
numbers of hours worked along all year in the company, allows the calculation of the
total worked hours per annum for each employee participating to the project.
Considering that the timesheets are filled in by the employees only in the months where
they contribute to the LIFE2008-ENERGICE project, the combination of the two tools
addresses your request.
55
EXAMPLE OF THE CALCULATION OF TOTAL PERSONNEL COST FOR ENERG-ICE PROJECT
VANNI PARENTI
YEAR 2011
MONTH
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
ANNUAL WORKING TIME
DOW ITALIA SRL
MONTHLY
WORKING TIME
SERVICE TOTAL WORKING TIME
104,00
16,00
120,00
136,00
24,00
160,00
136,00
40,00
176,00
128,00
32,00
160,00
96,00
80,00
176,00
128,00
40,00
168,00
88,00
0,00
88,00
80,00
24,00
104,00
64,00
112,00
176,00
96,00
72,00
168,00
160,00
8,00
168,00
128,00
24,00
152,00
1816,00
Annual gross salary
184.737,28 €
Hourly cost=Annual gross salary/Annual working time
Hourly cost = 184.737,28 €/1816 hr = 101,73 €
MONTH
January
February
March
April
Mmay
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
ANNUAL WORKING TIME
FOR ENERG-ICE PROJECT
MONTHLY
WORKING TIME FOR
ENERG-ICE PROJECT
38,00
36,00
92,00
36,00
52,00
26,00
16,00
10,00
36,00
48,00
26,00
32,00
448,00
Total personnel cost for Energ-Ice project =Hourly cost x Total working time for
Energ-Ice project
Total personnel cost for Energ-Ice project = 101,73 € x 448 hr = 45.573,95 €
Invoices
When possible, orders to suppliers are issued containing the reference to the “Energ-Ice”
project, with the aim to have it reported in the final invoice. Orders of Dow Italia fall
directly in a Dow Italia R&D cost center created to handle expenses for the project.
56
If the invoice comes in without explicit reference to the Energ-Ice Project, a stamp with
Energ-Ice Logo is used to mark each invoice.
If an invoice contains also other goods not related to the project, the items raws with
goods for the project are clearly identified.
For travel related expenses, Dow used an internal tool (GERS – Global Enterprise
Reporting Solutions) where costs of the same travel are collected and charged to the
Energ-Ice cost center.
9.5.
Partnership arrangements
For information about personnel and all other incurred costs, they are transmitted by
partners and received by Dow on a quarterly basis in electronic and paper form directly
to the Project Supervisor, who is also responsible of personal data.
The Finance report is prepared by Dow.
9.6.
Final output indicators
9.7.
Audit reports
9.8.
List of Deliverables
57