Scientific partnerships

The CSTJF and PERL carry out numerous research programmes with local partners: universities, schools, associations, etc. Two examples

Our local commitment to the energy and environmental transition.

As part of its research and development programs, TotalEnergies is proactively involved right at the heart of the issues surrounding the production of a more affordable, cleaner energy, accessible to as many people as possible. Thanks to the work done by its societal R&D team, the Group is working on the continuous improvement of its activities, particularly owing to the anticipation, evaluation and management of non-technical risks and grievances related to operations.

In this context, TotalEnergies’s societal R&D team based at the CSTJF, is a stakeholder in the actions taken by the TEEN (Territories in the Energy and Environment Transitions) Chair to think about the role companies and local players can play in the energy transition.

Created in 2018 by the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, in partnership with the Pau Béarn Pyrénées conurbation, the Compagnie d’Aménagement des Coteaux de Gascogne, the CNRS and Total E&P R&D, the TEEN Chair is designed to analyze the socio-political challenges in a given area and provide advice on a clear location strategy for the projects in which it is involved.

It is intended as a relay for expertise and puts forward hard-and-fast scenarios to ensure that each local project gets off to the best possible start.

Among the actions taken in partnership with the TEEN Chair, the Societal team at the CSTJF hosted the first conference in 2020 on the energy transition theme. The event was attended by public and private players and took the form of an informal debate on the challenges these transitions raise for companies and local territories.

Working with the TEEN Chair, the Societal team is seeking to ramp up exchanges and actions to develop future avenues for partnerships with local players.

• Find out more from the UPPA’s perspective.

Innovate with the expertise of local actors on 3D printing of heat exchangers.

Since 2018, the Jean Féger Scientific and Technical Center (CSTJF) has been conducting research on the 3D printing of heat exchangers* in close collaboration with its regional partners. This research strategy not only showcases expertise and local action, but also significantly reduces the costs generated by studies on additive manufacturing (AM).

Through a series of numerical tests, the R&D teams at the CSTJF and their partners are working on a new generation of heat exchangers, whose shape is the result of mathematical formulas to improve heat exchange: minimal surfaces starting with the Schwarz Diamond (Schwarz D) surface.

The CSTJF has an “innovation Booster” in Pau to lead this project and which operates in “maker” mode, using FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printers to rapidly prototype PLA (Poly Lactic Acid, biosourced and bio-compostable materials) to iterate and validate the heat exchanger design.
The teams also relied on the specific competencies of their local partners:

• Chloé (a university department working on flow in porous media, funded by TotalEnergies) to produce the design and create the entire exchanger based on mathematical Schwarz D formulas, using the Matlab and Comsol software applications;
• The IUT in Tarbes, to print the exchanger using laser sintering on a “powder bed”. This produces a Polyamid exchanger to validate the homogeneity of the numerical model — a crucial step before the more costly manufacturing of the metal exchanger;
• The ENIT (The National Engineers’ School in Tarbes), for the aluminum printing that gives better heat transfer;
• The Pau IUT (UPPA) – Heat and Energy engineering to run tests on a test bed.

Such partnerships contribute to modernizing heat exchangers through 3D printing and to reduce the weight while maximizing efficiency. If the tests prove conclusive, TotalEnergies would be able to use less energy and thereby reduce its CO₂ emissions.

*A heat exchanger is a system whereby heat energy from one fluid is transferred to another without them mixing.