Introduction to the the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) Michel Andrieu Deputy Head of Unit DG RTD Directorate Energy

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Introduction to thethe Research Programme of the
Research Fund for Coal and Steel(RFCS) Michel
Andrieu Deputy Head of UnitDG RTD Directorate
Energy
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• What is the RFCS Programme?
• Overview
• Practical aspects for applicants
• Evaluation Procedure
• Useful tips weblinks

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What is the RFCS Programme? 1. Overview
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The ECSC Treaty
The ECSC Treaty

• 1952
• European Coal and Steel Community Treaty (ECSC)
• Duration 50 years

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COALis and will remain a key component in the
fuel mix40 of the world electricty
production28 of the EU 27 electricity production
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Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002 Coal Production and Import in Europe 2002
             
country coal production coal production lignite production lignite production coal import coal import
  in Mt in Mt in Mt in Mt in Mt in Mt
EU-15 74,5   262,7   177,8  
EU-10 new member states 117,2   128,6   11,1  
EU-25 191,7   391,3   188,8  
Mainly for power plants Less than 10 for
coking plants and briquettes
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STEEL The growing influence of Asia
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Crude Steel Production by Region
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Main steel producers in the world

1. Mittal Steel (Nederland)
2. Arcelor (Luxemburg)
3. Nippon Steel (Japan)
4. JFE (Japan)
5. POSCO (South Korea)
6. Shanghai Bao Steel (China)
7. Corus (Great Britain)
8. US Steel (USA)
9. ThyssenKrupp Stahl (Germany)

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Steel from ores
in million of tons
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Steel from ores

• 70 of seaborne trade in iron ore is in the hands
  of 3 companies
• Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) Brazil
• Broken Hill Proprietary Company Billiton (BHP
  Billiton) Australia England
• Rio Tinto Group - Australia

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Steel Producers
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• The decisions
• to transfer the ECSC assets to the European
  Community
• to create the Research Fund for Coal and Steel
  (RFCS)
• are enshrined in
• a Protocol to the Treaty

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WHY the RFCS Programme?

• A SMART FINANCIAL DESIGN
• 1 February 2003 creation of the RFCS
• Assets left in 2002 at the expiry
• of the European Coal Steel Community Treaty
  (ECSC)
• 1600 Million
• The management of these ECSC assets results in
• yearly returns (60 M)
• now used to support industrial RD
• in the coal Steel
• This RD support is cost-free for the EU
  tax-payer!

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WHAT is the RFCS Programme?

• A research programme with a budget of 60 M/year
• Promoting industrial research in the field of
• Coal
• Steel
• Open continuous call for proposals for
• Research projects (60 funding)
• Pilot Demonstration projects (40 funding)
• Accompanying measures
• Deadline 15 September of each year
• Separate from the FPyet closely co-ordinated
  complementary

RFCS funding allocation
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RFCS research priorities - Coal
Improving the competitive position of Community
Coal
Health and Safety in Mines
Efficient protection of the Environment
improvement of the use of coal as a clean
energy source
Management of external dependence on energy
supply
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RFCS research priorities - Steel
New and improved steel making finishing
techniques
RTD and the utilisation of steel
Conservation of resources and improvement of
working conditions
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RFCS Programme Management
Programme Committee Representatives of the Member
States (1)
Coal / Steel Advisory Group Senior Experts (2)
12 Technical Groups Highly qualified experts
for project monitoring review (2)
independent Evaluation Experts for selection of
projects 2)
(1) Appointed by the Member States (2) Appointed
by the EC
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Project monitoring by Technical Groups

• Project monitoring (review) is based on a peer
  review mechanism
• Technical Group consisting of highly qualified
  experts appointed by the Commission
• Project co-ordinators present the progress
  results of their project to Technical Group

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Coal technical groups

• TGC 1 Coal mining operation, mine
  infrastructure and management, unconventional use
  of coal deposits

• TGC 2 Coal preparation, conversion and upgrading

• TGC 3 Coal combustion, clean and efficient coal
  technologies, CO2 capture

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Coal Technical Groups
Average RFCS funding allocation for COAL projects
(2005-2007)
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A flagship project - Coal COMTES700
Component Test Facility for a Power Plant
operating at700C

• Component Test Facility
• advanced materials
• 20,000h testing
• July 2004 Dec 2009
• Host Plant E-ON Scholven F, Gelsenkirchen (D)
• Budget 15.2M
• 57 by power producers
• 40 by RFCS
• 3 by equipment suppliers
• Final Objective
• ? gt 50 Coal Power Plant

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TGS - Technical Groups Steel

• TGS 1 Ore agglomeration and iron making
• TGS 2 Steel making processes
• TGS 3 Casting, reheating and direct rolling
• TGS 4 Hot and cold rolling processes
• TGS 5 Finishing and coating
• TGS 6 Physical metallurgy and design of new
  generic steel grades
• TGS 7 Steel products and applications for
  automobiles, packaging and home appliances
• TGS 8 Steel products and applications for
  building, construction and industry
• TGS 9 Factory-wide control, social and
  environmental issues

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A flagship project - Steel ULCOS

• EC support to ULCOS is twofold
• 5.1 Million from RFCS
• 20 Million from RTDFP
• THYSSEN, AirLiquide, Arcelor, BFI, Corus, CRM,
  Kuttner, LKAB, Paul Wurth, ILVA, Dillinger, Voest
  Alpine
• Objective(RFCS part) Develop a new blast furnace
  process route able to operate with very low
  CO2-emissions, based on drastically reduced
  consumption of carbon containing input materials.
• Preparatory work for a large size pilot
  demonstration unit with new CO2 reduced iron
  making process

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Example of project having an impact on Standards

• RFS-PR-07033-Analysis of fitting noise
  propagation in steel lightweight constructions
  and design solutions for their prevention-AFINOPRO
  (Requested funding approx. 500.000Euro)
• The proposal concerns the correct measurement of
  noise propagation conform to the EN ISO 38221"
  Laboratory tests on noise emission from
  applications and equipment used in water supply
  installation" and the development of design rules
  for the lightweight steel walls bearing the
  fittings.
• The deliverables of the work in term of
  industrial interest, prospects and strategic
  relevance can be summarised in the following
  items
• Optimised and validated solutions for industrial
  lightweight steel based dry construction for
  fitting noise 30dB
• Design rules for low excitation pipe systems
• Design rules for secondary vibratory systems to
  annihilate the vibration energy of dry
  construction compounds
• Supplementary document" Advanced Solutions for
  Silent Plumbing Design in Dry Construction
  Buildings"

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What is the RFCS Programme? 2. Practical Aspects
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WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

• Principles of participation
• Any undertaking, research institute, university
  or natural person established in the EU
• No threshold no limit on budget consortium
  size
• Third country partners are welcomed
• (though not eligible for EC funding)
• Nota Applicants may not be directly connected to
  the coal and steel industries but the objectives
  of the proposal has to be within the scope of the
  programme

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WHAT CAN BE FUNDED?

• 2 main categories of proposals
• Research (funding up to 60 )
• Pilot Demonstration (funding up to 40 )
• Accompanying measures
• (1) Information exchange dissemination
  activities
• (2) Promotion of knowledge gained
• (3) Training mobility of researchers

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What is the RFCS Programme? 3. Evaluation
Procedure
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Evaluation 3 steps
Each proposal is read and evaluated
independently by 3 evaluators
A meeting is convened by a Commission officer
Outcome is summarised in a consensus report
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Consensus meeting
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Evaluation criteria
5 CRITERIA SCORED 0 TO 5

• Scientific and technical approach
• Eliminating threshold if mark lt 3, proposal is
  rejected
• Innovative content
• Eliminating threshold if mark lt 3, proposal is
  rejected
• Industrial interest and scientific / technical
  prospects
• Community added value and contribution to
  EU-Policies
• Consistency of resources and quality of
  partnership

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Bonus explanation

• Criterion 4 - Industrial interest,
  scientific/technical prospects
• Which of the current priority(ies) listed in the
  Information Package are addressed in the
  proposal?
• Priority addressed scoring range 0 to 5
• Priority not addressed scoring range 0 to 4

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The consensus meeting

• is meant to share views and reach agreement!

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does not lead to an averaging of marks
(135)/3 is not 3 !
The consensus meeting
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The consensus meeting

• does not lead to a vote !

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Consensus Outcome

• Should be an agreed text which experts believe
  reflects their common assessment
• Consequently experts should be ready to change
  their score to mirror their shared views
• The final score should reflect the agreed text !

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A successful consensus meeting !
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Statistics Number of proposals received per year
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Total 156 177 208 190 179 118
coal 40 34 35 36 36 21
steel 116 143 173 154 143 97
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Projects funded since the start of the programme
for period 2003-2007

• 48 Coal projects Total EC support 77 M
• 237 Steel projects Total EC support 350 M
• Average size of project support
• Coal 1.6 M
• Steel 0.95 M

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Proposals recommended for fundingin 2008-
Country distribution of all successful applicants
Coal
Steel
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TYPICAL SUCCESS RATE

• approx. 30 for steel
• between 25 and 30 for coal

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Overall funding in the coal area since the start
of the programme
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Overall funding in the steel area since the start
of the programme
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What is the RFCS Programme? 4. Useful tips
weblinks for applicants
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SOME REMARKS ADVICE TO APPLICANTS

• Strong competition
• Proposals are of high quality level
• Long process start early with experienced
  partners!
• Descriptions should be short concise
• Test your application via neutral
  proof-readers
• Make use of the project synopsis
• Where appropriate, do not hesitate to volunteer
  as an expert (TG or Evaluator)

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Useful information on RFCS

• RFCS dedicated website http//cordis.europa.eu/c
  oal-steel-rtd/
• Information Package
• ? available as hard copies
• ? download from website
• http//cordis.europa.eu/coal-steel-rtd/infopack.ht
  m
• Latest published technical reports
• http//bookshop.europa.eu/
• http//cordis.europa.eu/library/
• Synopsis of ongoing RFCS projects (2003-2006)
• ftp//ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/coal-steel-rtd/docs
  /synopsisrfcs_2003-2006_en.pdf
• Register as Technical Expert
• http//cordis.europa.eu/experts
• European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP)

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• Should you have any further queries
• Please contact a Scientific Officer
• listed on our website
• Thank you for your attention!