About RESTORE
RESTORE is a European research project focused on developing innovative solutions for flare gas recovery and carbon capture in the petrochemical industry. This page provides detailed technical information about the project's objectives, performance indicators, and scientific context.
Pertinence to the Call and Call Module
RESTORE aim is totally pertinent with respect to the Call and Call module since it targets the overall objective of TRI 6 by enabling an efficient carbon-neutral industrial production. It is in line with Challenge 1 of CM2023-9 since the RESTORE system main objective contributes to reducing the industry's process-related greenhouse gas emissions.
As defined in the Call module description, process-related emissions indeed refer to emissions directly from industrial processes according to environmental reporting as well as to emissions that occur during the combustion of residual products from fossil raw materials in production processes, such as flaring of industrial residual gases.
Specific Objectives and Key Performance Indicators
The specific objectives (SO) of RESTORE are listed below, including the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which will be used to measure and verify the achievements:
| Specific Objective | Key Performance Indicator |
|---|---|
| SO-1: Validation of the system combined cycle MGT-SOFC achieving high efficiency | KPI1-1: Electrical efficiency beyond 60% demonstrated for Hydrogen |
| SO-2: Reforming of the flare gas to produce an appropriate mixture usable by the SOFC without poisoning | KPI2-1: Demonstrate high efficiency heat recovery from the SOFC for methane reforming with a yield of hydrogen > 80% KPI2-2: Demonstrate high steam reforming efficiency for 3 mixtures of typical industry flare gas |
| SO-3: Oxy-combustion of low calorific anode gas | KPI3-1: Demonstrate 99% combustion efficiency oxy-combustion on anode off-gas with LHV < 4 MJ/kg |
| SO-4: Carbon dioxide capturing | KPI4-1: Achieve carbon dioxide capturing from the exhaust gas with a value > than 90% |
| SO-5: Demonstrate a drastic reduction in CO₂ and other pollutants emissions with respect to conventional flaring | KPI5-1: CO₂ emissions reduced by 90% KPI5-2: NOx emissions reduced by 90% KPI5-3: VOC emissions reduced by 90% |
| SO-6: Achieving economic operation of the system | KPI6-1: Investment cost not exceeding 200% of a flare gas burner KPI6-2: Maintenance cost lower than a flare gas burner |
State of the Art
Generating power using flare gas is considered as an appropriate option for flare gas recovery. However, this technology has not been considered in operational and planned projects. SOFCs and more specifically hybrid cycles (SOFC+GT) offer high potential for this conversion, given their potentially high efficiency (up to 60%), making them also particularly interesting for flare gas conversion to power.
However, due to the lack of maturity of SOFC technology for application in high capacities, the SOFC/GT scenario for power production from flare gas was until now not considered as a suitable option. Since the development of SOFCs is still ongoing, only a limited number of actual hybrid cycles have been built and tested so far.
Industrial Committee
Industrial Committee: An industrial committee involving several large industries or federations will be organized with the aim of guaranteeing that the project objectives and system specifications are well aligned with industry needs.
The committee includes organizations such as DNV (independent expert in risk management and quality assurance) and DECHEMA (Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology), which strongly support the RESTORE proposal and are looking forward to becoming active members of the industry committee.