This project aims to develop and validate (to reach TRL 4) a novel thermochemical technology that not only can store mid-temperature heat (250-400 deg C)This project aims to develop and validate (to reach TRL 4) a novel thermochemical technology that not only can store heat at competitive cost and very high efficiency but also may upgrade that to considerably higher temperatures. This way, the technology enables the upgrade of medium-temperature heat to drive high-temperature and more efficient power cycles, e.g. supercritical. The heat is stored in the form of chemical bonds making it suitable for a long-duration and seasonal storage solution for power and heating applications This novel and outstanding heat storage/upgrading concept offers some further important features that make it even more promising. These are its i) competitive cost-effectiveness compared to other technologies due to its expected long lifespan, and design/operation simplicity, ii) compatibility with a variety of heat sources (solar collectors, industrial waste heat, electricity, etc.), and power blocks, upon the right material selection, iii) capability of continuous discharging with periodic charging as a requirement for many power cycles upon proper sizing/design, iv) scalability up to several-hundred MWhs of capacity and storage duration from several days to even seasonal with minimal losses, v) no environmental impacts, toxicity, and human health issues, and vi) many more potential applications upon further and case-specific developments in the future. The consortium consists of 9 partners from all corners of the EU; including 3 universities, 1 research center, 2 SMEs, 2 large enterprises, and 1 NGO, ensuring that all required expertise exists for the successful accomplishment of the project and future exploitation, and also the partners optimally supplement each other. The technology will be demonstrated in different designs and integrations at 5 kW heat capacity at the DLR laboratory.

This project aims to develop and validate (in the relevant environment to reach TRL 5) a novel thermochemically operating technology that can very efficiently, safely, cost-effectively, and sustainably provide waste heat recovery of industrial processes and upgrade them to much higher temperature levels (the target temperature will be 150-250 deg. C, here). The technology is a novel yet outstanding generation of heat transformers (Hydration Heat Transformer), outperforming any other competing technologies including various designs of high-temperature vapor compression heat pumps due to several reasons. That is, TechUPGRADE's solution i) may simply be integrated with any renewable technologies including solar thermal systems, ii) consumes almost no electricity, and presents significantly high energy and exergy efficiencies, iii) can be much more cost-effective than competing technologies due to expected long useful lifespan, the simplicity of the design and operation mechanism, and the way it integrates low-value heat sources, iv) may be employed for a variety of integration possibilities, low-temperature heat sources, and various heat sink temperature levels, and also, v) with simple adjustment, can offer the storage of the recovered waste or renewable heat if there is a mismatch between the heat source availability and the process heating demand. The project consortium consists of 14 partners from the four corners of the EU; including 5 universities, 3 research centers, 4 SMEs, 1 large company, and 1 partner with several industrial end-users, making sure that all the required expertise for a successful accomplishment of the project and future exploitation exist, and also the partners supplement each other in the most optimal manner. The technology will be demonstrated in different specific designs and integrations in two relevant environments in Sweden and Germany in 35 kW and 10 kW high-temperature heat delivery capacities.

SiGNE will deliver an advanced lithium-ion battery (LIB) aimed at the High Capacity Approach targeted in this work programme. Specific objectives are to (1) Develop high energy density, safe and manufacturable Lithium ion battery (2) optimise the full-cell chemistry to achieve beyond state of art performance (3) Demonstrate full-cell fast charging capability (4) Show high full-cell cycling efficiency with >80% retentive capacity (5) Demonstrate high sustainability of this new battery technology and the related cost effectiveness through circular economy considerations and 2nd life battery applications built upon demonstrator and (6) Demonstrate high cost-competitiveness, large-scale manufacturability and EV uptake readiness. SiGNE will achieve these objectives by incorporation of 30% Si as a composite where it is electrically connected to the Graphite in nanowire form. This will realise a volumetric ED of >1000 Wh/L when pre-lithiated and paired with a Ni- rich NCM cathode optimised to deliver 220 mAh/g. This will be further enabled by a specifically designed electrolyte to maximise the voltage window and enable stable SEI formation. A sustainable fibre based separator with superior safety features s in terms of thermal and mechanical stability will be developed. SiGNE will establish the viability of volume manufacturing with production quantities of battery components manufactured by project end. The battery design and production process will be optimised in a continuous improvement process through full cell testing supported by modelling to optimise electrode and cell designs through manufacture as a 21700-type cylindrical cell and prototype testing at by OEMs. (SOH) monitoring across the entire battery lifecycle will optimise safety 2nd use viability. SIGNE will go significantly beyond SoA with recovery of anode, cathode and electrolyte components. In this circular economy approach recovered materials will be returned to the relevant work package to produce new electrodes.