Technology
The project is committed to develop breakthrough technologies to improve process industry resource efficiency, fostering the transition from fuel‑based to electrified thermal processes, advancing the decarbonisation of the industrial sectors and reduction of their material waste, while increasing competitiveness.
The technologies will be demonstrated in 3 different A.SPIRE sectors: minerals, cement, and non‑ferrous metals.
The Prim-Rock Solution
PRIM‑ROCK will develop the RMI system, which comprises a process line featuring advanced sensorisation, AI‑driven sorting, and decision support, complete with real‑time analysis capabilities and optimized crushing size determination for the raw materials.
The RMI system will contribute to process efficiency through:
- establishing an interface between pre-processing of raw materials and their thermal treatment
- optimising pre-processing in accordance to process parameters
- enabling the adaptation of process parameters depending on raw material changes, even in real-time
PRIM‑ROCK will prototype and develop indirect-fired rotary kilns (IFRKs) and microwave rotary kilns (MRKs) to replace conventional Direct‑Fired rotary kilns (DFRKs).
The newly‑developed process technologies of IFRKs and MRKs will:
- remove the need for process gasses
- solve the issue of fine and ultrafine material loss
- reduce emissions
- improve the controllability and flexibility of the calcination and roasting processes
PRIM‑ROCK aims to improve material efficiency at the post-process level, modelling and prototyping a Microwave Induced Plasma (MIP) reactor and an innovative heat exchanger, and developing a virtual toolkit for the exploitation of enriched CO2 byproducts.
The MIP reactor will transform hydrogen sulphide into hydrogen and sulphur, allowing the reutilisation of hydrogen in the kilns. The heat exchanger prototype will allow for controlled cooling of the MIP reactor gases.
PRIM-ROCK will develop a flexible and scalable digitalization framework, comprising of exhaustive simulations to obtain optimal design of the prototypes, hybrid Digital Twins leveraging reduced-order and AI-based data-driven models, a network of sensing technologies and distributed process control system, which will facilitate overviewing and managing the different tools across processing stages. A secure and interoperable multilayer data management platform will bridge all components together. The framework will all come together in a user-friendly Decision Support System (DSS), which will leverage data for 3D visualization of the involved processes.
Throughout the project, the PRIM‑ROCK consortium will deploy an array of energy efficiency and performance assessments using different methodologies and tools, including a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) and Technoeconomic Analysis (TEA), among others. This will ensure the creation of a robust business plan and a comprehensive technology scale‑up roadmap, to maximise the PRIM‑ROCK technologies’ market impact.
