Project description
Solar collector generating electricity, hydrogen from wastewater, and heat
The industrial sector accounts for a considerable share of the energy consumption and pollutants emissions in the EU. The increasing impacts of these pollutants have spurred organisations and countries to promote innovative green solutions that facilitate the transition to green energy and a sustainable society. The EU-funded SPECTRUM project aims to develop and validate a groundbreaking solar concentrating collector that fully harnesses the solar spectrum. This collector will convert solar radiation into solar heat, green hydrogen, and solar electricity while also providing industrial wastewater treatment. Additionally, the project aims to develop cost-effective, sustainable components, processes, and solutions that maximise local energy generation and wastewater treatment. A life-cycle sustainability assessment will be performed to validate the collector's techno-economic, environmental, and social sustainability.
Objective
The SPECTRUM project aims to develop, validate and test an innovative solar concentrating collector that fully harness the solar spectrum by converting solar radiation into three renewable energy vectors (solar heat, solar electricity and green hydrogen) required by industrial sector, while performing industrial wastewater treatment. SPECTRUM will boost the sustainability of IWW treatment, converting waste into a valuable solar fuel, through an efficient photocatalytic remediation process coupled with H2 cogeneration. Matching the energy grade between the solar spectrum and the conversions, the system uses the UV for photocatalytic H2 production with synergistic degradation of pollutants, infrared for generating thermal energy and visible-near infrared light for PV electricity, allowing to achieve higher solar conversion efficiency.
SPECTRUM concept will go beyond the current state of the art through i) the development of low cost, sustainable photocatalysts with focus on dual-functional photocatalysis processes, i.e H2 production and pollutants degradation, and considering the easy recovery and reuse of the catalysts and ii) development of spectral splitting solutions to separate IR part of the solar spectrum allowing the PV cells to be thermally decoupled from the thermal absorber, generating high-temperature heat without compromising the electrical efficiency. Integrate optical, thermal, and electrical subsystem of SPECTRUM hybrid solar collector will be design and developed aiming to reach an effective total management and distribution of the solar radiation. Two hybrid solar collector prototypes for low and medium temperature (SPECTRUM-LT and SPECTRUM-HT) will be constructed and tested under outdoor conditions. Techno-economic analysis using Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing, together with social impact analysis, will be used to validate the sustainability of the SPECTRUM approach in the economic, environmental and social domains.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy
- engineering and technology environmental engineering water treatment processes wastewater treatment processes
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis photocatalysis
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electrical engineering power engineering electric power generation combined heat and power
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy hydrogen energy
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.
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HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.5.2 - Energy Supply
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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-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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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-CL5-2024-D3-01
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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.
4466-901 S.Mamede De Infesta
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.