Descrizione del progetto
Un approccio innovativo alla produzione di biocarburanti
La crescente domanda di energia e l’esaurimento dei combustibili fossili minacciano la sicurezza energetica globale e l’ambiente. Per mitigare questo problema, l’UE punta alla neutralità climatica entro il 2050, affidandosi a biocarburanti di nuova generazione ricavati da rifiuti organici non terrestri e non alimentari. Tuttavia, le sfide nel reforming del bioetanolo ostacolano la produzione di biocarburanti avanzati come il butanolo e l’idrogeno. In questo contesto, il progetto GlaS-A-Fuels, finanziato dal CEI, si concentra sulla trasformazione del bioetanolo in biocarburanti avanzati come il butanolo e l’idrogeno, superando le sfide della bassa resa e della selettività. Il loro approccio innovativo prevede reattori di vetro fotonico a intrappolamento di luce alimentati da moduli termoelettrici, che migliorano l’efficienza dei catalizzatori a singolo atomo foto-amplificati. Grazie all’esperienza nella scienza dei materiali, nella catalisi e nelle tecnologie laser, GlaS-A-Fuels intende essere pioniere di soluzioni sostenibili per le esigenze energetiche future.
Obiettivo
The increasing energy demand and the depletion of fossil-fuel reserves, threatening our energy security and the environment, have aroused intense global concern. To mitigate this, the EU aims to become climate-neutral by 2050, by targeting at the next-generation of biofuels from non-land and non-food competing bio-wastes. Butanol (BuOH), heavier alcohols and hydrogen (H2), if produced from bio-ethanol, are promising advanced biofuels due to their high energy content, long shelf-life and, in case of BuOH, compatibility with the current engines and fuel distribution infrastructure. However, their production faces challenges due to the low yields and selectivities during ethanol reforming. GlaS-A-Fuels envisions a holistic approach to transform bio-ethanol to advanced biofuels employing recyclable and cooperative catalysts from earth-abundant elements. The concept is based on the engineering of a light-trapping and light-tuning photonic glass reactor, self-powered by a thermoelectric module, and tailored to amplify the effectiveness of photo-amplified single-atom catalysts. GlaS-A-Fuels aims to harness the full power of the light-activated carriers of photoactive supports by channeling this energy to the surface-exposed transition metal-cation single atom sites. There, via the effective coordination with the reactants and energy matching with their frontier orbitals, solar energy to fuel conversion can be maximized. Metal-metal and metal-support cooperativity, charge transfer phenomena and strongly polarized oxidations states can further contribute to the required enhanced catalytic performances and difficult-to-achieve key reaction intermediates. To develop efficient processes for the production of advanced biofuels, GlaS-A-Fuels will leverage in a concerted way the key expertise of five partners in materials science for solar and thermal energy harvesting, catalysis, laser technologies for tuning light-matter interactions, intelligent process-control systems.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energysolar energy
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysisphotocatalysis
- engineering and technologymaterials engineering
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbiofuels
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Invito a presentare proposte
HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDEROPEN-01
Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoMeccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinatore
70013 Irakleio
Grecia