A new research team at CTU UCEEB focuses on modern energy technologies for industry

News, 21. 10. 2024
The University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB) at the CTU in Prague has expanded its activities with the addition of another expert team, INTENS (Industrial Thermal Energy Systems). The team focuses on the development and implementation of new energy efficient technologies for industrial energy and decentralised heat and power generation. The team leader is Jan Špale, who, thanks to a Fullbright-Masaryk scholarship, also worked on this topic at Purdue University in the USA as part of his one-year internship.

UCEEB is actively involved in shaping the sustainable construction industry. It aims to construct environmentally friendly buildings that are in line with sustainable development and provide a healthy and comfortable indoor environment for users.  However, the Centre's research work is now also focusing on energy in industrial plants with the aim of reducing their carbon footprint. In fact, the Czech Republic has committed to contributing to the European goal of becoming a carbon neutral continent by 2050. The energy sector is today Europe's largest CO2 emitter. According to IEA statistics, approximately one third of greenhouse gas emissions are related to the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity and heat. Coal and natural gas combustion account for most of these emissions.

"As a centre of excellence, UCEEB connects science with the commercial and public sectors to deliver innovative solutions for a sustainable future in building, energy and environmental technologies. We are committed to reducing energy consumption and using resources efficiently. I am convinced that the newly created INTENS team will help us move closer to this goal, as well as to the international commitments to which the Czech Republic has acceded," says Robert Jára, Director of CTU UCEEB. At present, there are a total of 19 expert teams operating at the university centre, including the newly established one. 

The new INTENS research team focuses on the development and implementation of new energy-efficient technologies for industrial energy and distributed heat and power generation. It specialises in the development and design of industrial thermal energy systems, in particular high-temperature heat pumps (HTHP), waste heat recovery systems (WHR), combined heat and power (CHP) and thermal energy storage (TES). The aim is to reduce the emission footprint and increase the competitiveness of industrial production," adds Jan Špale, head of the INTENS research team, on the direction of the team.

Jan Špale has been selected as the head of the INTENS team in the selection procedure. He graduated in Energy and Process Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, where he specializes in the development of turbomachines for decentralized energy systems based on the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) in his doctoral thesis. Thanks to a prestigious Fulbright-Masaryk scholarship, he was able to spend a year at Purdue University in the USA, where he focused on the development of high-temperature heat pumps and industrial energy. He has also gained extensive experience in energy equipment research and development during a number of international internships, including at Politecnico di Milano, KU Leuven in Belgium and OTH Amberg-Weiden in Germany.

The team collaborates with many partners ranging from renowned international universities and research institutions to industrial companies. It links academic knowledge with applied research and helps to put it into practice. It has experience in both contract research contracts, which include feasibility studies, basic design, expert technical consultation and computer simulations, and national and international public support grants, including leading them as principal investigator.