This 15 months Fellowship, entitled “Catalytic Reforming of Glycerol to Hydrogen and Biopropane in Hydrothermal Media” (HYDROGAS) was to train a talented researcher through a research project focused on the development of novel process to make viable the use of the glycerol co-product derived during the use of vegetable oils (and lipids) for the production of various liquid hydrocarbon biofuels. This innovative HYDROGAS project aimed to investigate for the first time the potential of a novel two-pronged catalytic approach to produce hydrogen and biopropane from catalytic reforming of glycerol in hydrothermal media. The two-stage approach would enable deriving all the hydrogen requirements for the vegetable oil-to-hydrocarbons routes by using glycerol as a hydrogen-source. Especially, this project contributed to a positive process economics for the HEFA bio-jet fuel production process. The sharing and exchange of skills between the researcher, the host, the supervisor, the students and international research groups was be a very important knowledge dissemination pathway, supported through training, publications in journals of high impact factor, participation in international conferences and others. The Fellow received access to an innovative project experience at the host: Sustainable Chemicals Laboratory in the European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI), Aston University, UK (Dr. Jude Onwudili), and at academic secondment partner: University of Zaragoza, Spain (Prof Lucia Garcia). In addition, a high-level techno-economic assessment of the process was supported by Prof Patricia Thornley (EBRI). HYDROGAS aimed to investigate the development of a new methodology to produce renewable biopropane for a large-scale deployment in substitution for petroleum-based LPG that can contribute to lowering carbon emissions. The obtained products (hydrogen and biopropane), were used as criteria to economically evaluate the process from beginning to end, and the research team was highly qualified for the success of the innovation project. The HYDROGAS project permeated the whole fellowship and was a valuable and challenging mixture of scientific research and training for the Fellow.
