SPIRIT Partners

The Netherlands Organisation of Applied Scientific Research, is an independent not-for-profit research organization in the Netherlands. Its expertise and research make an important contribution to the competitiveness of companies and organisations as well as the economy and the quality of society as a whole. TNO has about 3500 employees working in major applied research areas, of which energy transition is a leading theme. TNO’s mission is to support industry and society in general by transforming (scientific) know-how into commercially and sustainable products and processes. TNO participates and has participated, both as coordinator and partner, in a large number of national and international research programmes, including more than 280 H2020 projects.

The Institute of Low-Carbon Industrial Processes of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was founded in 2019 to expand DLR’s knowledge in energy research. The research portfolio and competence areas are thus added to the specific requirements and research needs for the decarbonization of large energy-intensive industrial sectors (e.g., steel production, cement industry, chemical industry). Three are the main research subjects of the Institute: the development of high-temperature heat pumps, the decarbonization of energy-intensive industrial processes that are difficult or impossible to electrify, and the analysis and development of simulation tools for the digital replication of industrial processes. DLR is part of the SPIRIT project to accelerate the acceptance of high-temperature heat pumps in the above-mentioned industrial sectors.

Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is a leading research and technology company with more 1,000 employees. More than two thirds of the employees have an academic degree, while 14 percent hold a PhD. DTI helps in excess of 10,000 customers a year – representing 65 different countries. DTI considers heat pumps as key components of a renewable-based energy system and at the heart of future energy systems without fossil fuels. The strategic focus of DTI is to develop and demonstrate the use of heat pump technology in new applications and temperature areas such as temperatures above 100 °C. The development and demonstration are done through close cooperation with leading technology providers, which will ensure the consolidation of the technology in future commercial projects and products.

DTU-Construct ranks 40 among the top world Mechanical Engineering Institutes (QS Ranking) and is a multidisciplinary research center for the development of process design and optimization models, methodologies, and tools for energy systems. The department has extensive collaboration with Danish and international companies, institutions, and individuals and continuously expands this network. DTU-Construct has top-class scientific capabilities among the other departments of DTU, especially in the fields of Thermal Energy Systems. The primary strategy of the section is to focus on developing the most advanced future energy technologies with a special focus on the electrification of industrial processes.

Euroheat & Power (EHP) is the international network for district energy, promoting sustainable heating and cooling in Europe and beyond. EHP is a non-for-profit association headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, which unites the district energy sector. EHP members come from over thirty countries around the globe and include national district heating and cooling associations, utilities operating district energy systems, industrial associations and companies, manufacturers, universities, research institutes and consultancies active in the sector.

The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) represents the majority of the European heat pump industry. It counts more than 190 members among heat pump and component manufacturers, research institutes, universities, testing labs and energy agencies. Its key goal is to promote awareness and the proper deployment of heat pump technology in the European market for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

Eurac is a private, non-profit research centre located in multilingual South Tyrol (Italy). Established in 1992, Eurac comprises 15 research institutes and centres organised in five main research areas: languages, minorities and autonomies, mountains, health and technologies. A number of service departments support researchers with project management, science communication, and legal and IPR issues. The Institute for Renewable Energy (RENENE) focuses on advanced energy systems and sustainable energy sources research. Its activities include national and international projects and direct cooperation with industrial partners. The institute supports the promotion of renewable energy technologies and assists political decision-makers through scientific consultancy and the elaboration of complex energy models.

GEA Heating & Refrigeration Technologies is a global specialist in industrial refrigeration, heating and sustainable engineering solutions for a wide array of industries including, food, beverage, dairy and oil & gas. GEA’s proven technologies provide customers with reliability, operating efficiency, sustainability and long equipment life cycles that reduce their total cost of ownership. GEA provides turnkey cooling and heating installations, custom-engineered systems, compressors & compressor packages, chillers, controls and heat pumps to meet precise temperature requirements. A comprehensive service programs supports GEA’s customers throughout the full life cycle of their plant and equipment to ensure peak performance.

MAYEKAWA – European division is one of the leading companies for refrigeration and gas compressors in the European market. The business began with bare compressor sales and maintenance support. Later, MAYEKAWA started to produce, sell and maintain: compressor units, meat processing robot, special freezing facilities and heat pumps. Hereby MYK focuses on making use of natural refrigerants such as ammonia, CO2 and HCs. The factory for MAYEKAWA Europe’s operations division produces CE-PED and other standard units as well as the design and development of custom-built gas compression systems and special systems for chemical plants. MYK also invests a lot in the research and development of high-pressure compressor blocks for high temperature heat pump applications.

Sinloc is a leading advisory and investment impact company operating in the local development and infrastructural marketspace with a relevant institutional network and consolidated structuring and deployment track record of actionable energy transition and social projects. Sinloc promotes local development initiatives, operating both as advisor and as equity investor in PPP initiatives with a particular expertise in economic and financial, procedural and social aspects. As advisor, Sinloc operates also supporting strategic decisions of local administrations, institutions, banking foundations and private companies, being oriented to the overall project sustainability. Sinloc has a strong experience in technical assistance for energy transition projects, having supported several local authorities under the EIB-ELENA & EIB-JESSICA program, for activating EE investments of over 440 million Euros in energy efficiency.

Smurfit Kappa, a FTSE 100 company, is one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging solutions in the world, with approximately 48,000 employees in over 350 production sites across 36 countries and with revenue of €10.1 billion in 2021. Smurfit Kappa is located in 23 countries in Europe, and 13 in the Americas and is the only large-scale pan-regional player in Latin America. SK’s products are 100% renewable they are produced sustainably and have a low environmental footprint. Smurfit Kappa will take part to the SPIRIT project under two different entities: Smurfit Kappa Paper Services will be involved in the general technological part of the project while Smurfit Kappa Czech SRO will be one of the three demo sites where the newly developed large-scale heat pump technology will be implemented.

Spilling is a manufacturer of expansion machines for power production (steam engines, steam turbines, gas expansion engines) and steam compressors. Historically, the focus has been on expansion engines, which were used to recover power by expanding steam or natural gas. However, in the context of the increasing focus on decarbonization of industries, the focus shifted to steam compressors, that are upgrading low pressure/low temperature waste heat to useful higher pressure levels and temperatures as required for many industrial processes. This can happen also in combination with other high temperature heat pumps (HTHP), producing low pressure steam (at ~2 to 5 bara). Here the Spilling steam compressor has the function of a steam booster, reaching final steam pressures of up to 40 bara

Located in Northern Norway, Stella Polaris AS is one of the world’s largest cooked and peeled coldwater shrimp producers, with 70 employees producing approximately 400 tons of peeled shrimp annually. The shrimp is steam-cooked, peeled, and frozen before packaging in consumer bags for customers worldwide. Stella Polaris aims to use the waste heat from the freezing machinery as a heat source for the high-temperature heat pumps.

Raffinerie Tirlemontoise is a reference in the Belgian food industry. In this company, tradition and innovation go hand in hand, producing quality sugar from locally grown sugar beets since 1836 and working every day towards a more sustainable future. Raffinerie Tirlemontoise is part of the Südzucker group.

TLK Energy GmbH is an engineering company specialized in Thermodynamics and system simulation, providing services and software solutions for automotive, refrigeration and heat pump industry. Commercial software products are model libraries (Modelica language) for different applications as well as a cloud-based platform for deployment of simulation models as easy-to-use web application.

TVP Solar S.A. is a solar thermal technology provider that engineers, installs and operates large-scale solar thermal systems for district heating networks, and industrial heat applications. The company has developed, manufactures and markets innovative High Vacuum Flat Panels (HVFPs) that are SolarKeyMark certified to deliver heat at temperatures up to 200C. Thanks to its technology’s superiority TVP’ solar systems can produce heat all year round, even at low-to-medium solar irradiance locations/ weather conditions. These systems have been installed across 10 countries in Europe, Middle East and Americas.