TNO is an independent research organisation connecting people and knowledge to create innovations that boost the competitive strength of industry and the well-being of society in a sustainable way. TNO has over 3000 employees. TNO is a government supported institute working on a broad spectrum of innovation programmes (e.g. solar, wind, biomass, climate change). The TNO group Biomass and Energy and Efficiency (BEE) develops advanced uses of biomass, advanced processing and consults on policy development and technical applications. The R&D programme is divided into Sustainable Process Technology, Heat & Biorefinery Technology, and Bioenergy. About fifty highly qualified professionals of this unit work on sustainable process technology in national and international projects with government, industries and academia.
A range of experimental and analytical facilities is available for lab and pilot-scale research & technology development. Substantial experience also exists in process modelling and integral plant design including economics evaluation and life cycle analysis. The TNO Energy Efficiency program focuses on increasing the energy efficiency and reducing the environmental footprint of industrial processes and will take the lead role in the FLEDGED project.
Role in FLEDGED
In the project, TNO focusses on the development of the sorption enhanced DME synthesis (SEDMES) process. TNO is the leader of process validation at TRL 5 activities, and will also be highly involved in Component development and Modelling and process integration. TNO will select the SEDMES catalyst/sorbent system to be brought to TRL 5 validation testing. TNO will adapt its in-house developed process simulator for dynamic sorption based systems to the SEDMES process, where this tool is used for cycle design and optimization. The optimal cycle is demonstrated and used in the total system analysis, the techno-economic analysis and life-cycle analysis, as well as for sustainability and process safety assessment.
