Unipi Team Leader: Prof. Umberto Desideri, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni

REGEN-BY-2 will research, design, construct and experiment a first-of-its-kind lab-scale prototype of a recent nearworldwide patented thermodynamic cycle and related plant for the conversion of thermal sources in energy vectors, i.e. electric, heating and-or cooling powers.

The start-up TIFEO, which was founded in 2018 by the team leading this proposal and is the exclusive licensee of the patent driving REGEN-BY-2, is a potential European Unicorn.

REGEN-BY-2 can convert (from small to large-scale) any typology of renewable thermal source from low to hightemperature (e.g. solar, aerothermal, geothermal, hydrothermal) including additional thermal sources (e.g. waste heat). REGEN-BY-2 is enabled by machines capable to work with two-phase fluids, i.e. constituted by both liquid and vapor phases. The patented thermodynamic cycle is highly efficient as it is constituted by a proper combination of Carnot cycles operating with two-phase fluid circulating in novel two-phase expanders and two-phase compressors.

To be successful, these two-phase machines will have to be designed, prototyped and integrated in the REGENBY-2 lab-scale prototype.

Moreover, the patented technology has large flexibility due to the control of many process parameters, allowing chasing and satisfying the end-users energy demands in a predictable and dispatchable way. By the exploitation of renewable thermal sources from small to large-scale, by converting them more efficiently and with more flexibility into electric, heating and-or cooling energy vectors, REGEN-BY-2 will induce greater demand for and increasing use of renewable thermal sources.

REGEN-BY-2 is a breakthrough in our energy infrastructure as it can be used in wide energy sectors (e.g. District Heating&Cooling systems and Distributed Renewable Flexible Energy systems). The research is low-TRL and high risk. For this, a full value international chain is assembled (Universities, RTOs, SMEs, Large Enterprises, a Standards Organization).

Coordinator:

UNIVERSITA DI PISA Italy

Partners:

• RINA CONSULTING SPA, Italy
• FUNDACION CARTIF, Spain
• CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS, France
• R2M SOLUTION SPAIN SL, Spain
• TIFEO SRL, Italy
• NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS - NTUA, Greece
• UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE, Belgium
• ASOCIACION ESPANOLA DE NORMALIZACION, Spain
• EXOES, France
• German FAU Erlangen LSTME Busan Branch Korea, Republic of Korea
• DR. JAKOB ENERGY RESEARCH GMBH & CO. KG, Germany
• HYSYTECH SRL, Italy

Start date: To be defined approx 1/06/2020

End date: approx 31/05/2024

Duration: 48 months

Project cost: 5.419.327,50 euro

Project funding: 4.905.748,75 euro

Unipi quota: 614.750,00 euro

Call title: H2020-LC-SC3-2019-RES-TwoStages

Unipi role: Coordinator