On November 26‒27, 2025, GEOSYN partners from SINTEF Energy Research, the University of Florence, and RIVACOLD met in Trondheim to review the operational procedures of the two-stage turbocompressor available at the SINTEF lab facility.
The meeting was attended by Ole Marius Moen (SINTEF), Sigurd Sannan (SINTEF), Lasse Borg Anderson (SINTEF), Andrea Rocchetti (UNIFI), Lorenzo Talluri (UNIFI), Andrea Zini (UNIFI), Giuseppe Vitri (RIVACOLD), and Filippo Luchetti (RIVACOLD).
The main goal of the meeting was to conduct a structured review of the turbocompressor’s operating sequence and safety protocols. Specialists from SINTEF provided a detailed walkthrough of the system architecture, instrumentation, and control logic, followed by a step-by-step demonstration of the standard operating procedure.
The two-stage turbocompressor is a dedicated test facility designed to achieve substantial pressure and temperature lift of steam for industrial heat pump applications. It consists of two oil-free turbocompressors derived from automotive turbocharger technology, capable of operating at very high rotational speeds with steam as the working fluid.
This process is both efficient and environmentally friendly: steam from a waste heat source of around 100–120 °C can be compressed up to pressures of several bars and temperatures approaching 155–300 °C. This allows the production of more than 1 MW of thermal power and enables practical testing of desuperheaters, sensors, and other components under realistic operating conditions. The rig accommodates a wide range of steam flow rates and supports experimentation with key operational stages such as preheating, compression, and desuperheating, making it a valuable platform for the development and validation of high-temperature heat pump technology.
During the meeting, representatives from the University of Florence and RIVACOLD were guided through the full operational procedure of the turbocompressor. The experience gained from operating the two-stage turbo-steam compressor is directly relevant to the development of the high-temperature heat pump system within the GEOSYN project.
The two-day session strengthened the collaboration between SINTEF, the University of Florence, and RIVACOLD, ensuring that practical laboratory expertise is effectively transferred into the design and implementation of next-generation high-temperature heat pump solutions.
Photo credit: Sigurd Sannan, SINTEF Energy Research.