Project description
Lowering the costs of producing biomethane
Biomethane shows good promise as a fuel for the circular economy, but it is often contaminated with CO2 that must be removed. While this is traditionally done using liquid amine adsorbents, they suffer from chemical instability and high energy costs. The EU-funded GRACE project will help design a new generation of solid sorbents which can lower costs by 40 %. Researchers will develop a new understanding of the intermolecular interactions occurring at the gas–solid interface of adsorbent surfaces, which will help synthesise new materials such as periodic mesoporous organosilica sorbents. The project will also test new shapes for sorbents to make the biogas upgrading process more efficient.
Objective
Biogas is a renewable energy source that contributes to carbon-neutrality by reducing GHG emissions. An EU-wide climate policy framework supports a circular economy based on biomethane. Yet, biomethane is largely contaminated with CO2 that must be removed. A promising method for biogas upgrading benefits from the use of solid adsorbents, cutting down 40% in sorbent regeneration costs compared to the use of decades-old liquid amine absorbents, which suffers from poor chemical stability and high regeneration energy costs. How can GRACE contribute to the global effort towards the design of future-generation sorbents with improved CO2/CH4 separation? GRACE aims at providing answers to this end by rationale materials’ design that will help to build an atomic-level understanding of intermolecular interactions at the gas-solid interface governing thermodynamic/kinetic phenomena at sorbent surfaces. The scarcity of atomic-scale studies in gas-sorption mechanisms at porous surfaces has hindered further progresses on the synthesis of better CO2-adsorbent materials. This knowledge gap is thus my major motivation. To tackle this challenge, GRACE encompasses 3 main goals: 1) design sustainable periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) sorbents; 2) obtain structure-property relationships studying gas-sorbents at the atomic level; 3) test distinct PMO grain shapes for better biogas upgrading under industrially-relevant operating conditions.
My past expertise in materials’ design and multidisciplinary characterization skills will be a valuable asset not only for the synthesis of viable sorbents with favorable properties for CO2/CH4 separation but also for the tandem use of operando TGA-IR, NMR/DNP spectroscopies and gas adsorption to study confined 13C-enriched CO2 species (using pure CO2 or gas mixtures). This equipment is hosted at CICECO-UAVR, an internationally renowned lab that fosters interdisciplinary research and is committed to support the growth of young researchers.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- natural sciences physical sciences optics spectroscopy
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
HORIZON.4.1.5 - Fostering brain circulation of researchers and excellence initiatives
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-02
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3810-193 Aveiro
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.