Project description
Innovative solar-driven reactor technology shows promise for efficient chemical production
The sun, one of the most sustainable energy sources available, could be used to power photochemical reactions. But besides efforts to produce chemical compounds sustainably, current photochemical reactor technology is limited in the ability to efficiently control light. The EU-funded reaCtor project aims to advance modern microflow reactors to render them suitable for widespread use. Researchers will use optical fibres for smart light management and metallic nanoparticles as efficient energy transmitters. Furthermore, advanced techniques will be used to functionalise microfluidic components. The envisioned fibre-based microfluidic reactor could forge a path to the sustainable and more efficient development of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials at laboratory and industrial scale.
Objective
Major challenges of the European and worldwide society such as the climate crisis, insufficient environmental protection, food and pharmaceutical shortages, and military aggressions require technologies that substitute fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources in basically all industries. Following the green deal of the EU commission, the European continent shall become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The chemical industry is a major contributor to CO2 emissions, as it accounts for about 30% of the industry’s total energy use worldwide. Even though so-called photochemistry promises to sustainably produce chemical compounds by (sun)light, corresponding reactors suffer from insufficient light management, even in modern micro flow reactors, which hinders their upscaling to applications in industry. This is exactly where the key to the technological and economic breakthrough lies, and this is where reaCtor comes into play. It will contribute to the ambitious goal of a sustainable chemistry by developing and validating a novel type of light-driven chemical reactor with enormous scale-up potential for industrial applications. It will be based on an interdisciplinary and innovative technological approach, combining optical fibres for smart light management, metallic nanoparticles as efficient energy transmitters, nano- and micro-fabrication for micro-fluidic functionalization as well as monolithic optical integration, and flow chemistry as an eco-friendly and safe chemical technology. For the first time, a demonstrator of the novel reactor architecture will be set-up and benchmarked with relevant photochemical reactions. Ultimately, the proposed fibre-based microfluidic reactors will enable implementation of new and efficient routes driven by light to prepare pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials on both lab and industrial scales.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugs
- natural scienceschemical sciencesphysical chemistryphotochemistry
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
EIC - EICCoordinator
30167 Hannover
Germany