Research Projects

Biomass-derived liquid transportation fuels have been proposed as part of the solution to mitigate climate change and many countries are providing incentives to support the growth of bioenergy utilization. Nevertheless, most biofuels currently are made from food-related sources and have a negative impact on food production. The development of cost-effective solutions to minimize carbon waste and inhibit biogenic effluent gas emissions in sustainable biofuel production processes is still at an early stage of development.
FLEXBY intends to go significantly boost this development by producing advanced biofuel through an innovative, cost-efficient process that will reach TRL5. At FLEXBY we will produce biofuel using biogenic waste from microalgae cultivated in domestic wastewater as well as the oily sludge from refineries. This residual biomass will undergo a microwave pyrolysis treatment to produce three different fractions: bio-liquid, pyro-gas, and bio-char. The bio-liquid fraction will be converted to jet, diesel, and marine bio-fuels (heavy transport biofuels) through a versatile and innovative Hydrogen-free Hydrodeoxygenation. The gaseous fraction will be converted to bio-hydrogen through a steam-reforming water gas-shift process (WGS) and preferential CO oxidation (PrOx). Both liquid and gaseous biofuel will be tested and validated in fuel cells to produce electricity, along with an evaluation of their respective suitability for the transport sector. FLEXBY promotes a circular economy by recycling biomass residues and all sub-products obtained during the project. The combined expertise of the industrially-driven consortium (formed by 1 LE, 4 SMEs, 2 universities, 1 non-profit association, and 2 RTOs) from 5 different countries will be able to achieve these objectives. In terms of impact, FLEXBY will increase the use of advanced biofuels in the heavy transport sector, mitigating climate impact in key areas of the global economy

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101144144

Persistent luminescent (PersL) materials are able to store optical energy in structural defects that act as traps and generate light long after the excitation source disappears, i.e. afterglow, allowing the introduction of time as a design element in new lighting solutions. Despite the advantages associated with size reduction, the properties of persistent nanomaterials are far from those of their bulk counterparts. PHLOW seeks to find new ways to control PersL by designing the optical environment of emitters, a path unexplored until today. To this end, it is proposed to process transparent thin films with PersL for integration into photonic architectures in order to optimize the charging process and improve the amount of light emitted during the afterglow. It is relevant to note that the charge storage and emission processes compete with each other. That is, as the traps are filled, they are also partially emptied in a dynamic process. However, there is no strategy specifically designed to alter the charging process or increase the population of the traps. At the same time, the radiative de-excitation rate of a transition depends on the optical environment through the local density of optical states. For this reason, the optical design is expected to have an impact, in addition to the outcoupling mechanism, on the intrinsic process of light generation, which should allow altering the trap population balance, affecting the charge kinetics and the intensity of the PersL. Thus, the general objective is to study the impact of changes in the optical environment on the processes of energy storage and persistent light emission in order to highlight the potential of optical design as a tool to control PersL in transparent thin films. This naturally interdisciplinary approach will have a profound scientific impact, as photonics has never been explored to control the charge and emission mechanisms that determine PersL, but also technological, as it enables the development of timedependent light sources to drive more versatile color converters, smart labels, novel coatings for anti-counterfeiting or optical data storage.

The advance in knowledge in ceramic matrix composites with 2D nanomaterial fillers is essential to address their future use in technological applications such as high-temperature electrochemical devices. Thus, a deep understanding of the basis of their new functionalities and optimized performance is needed.
This proposal outlines a systematic study of composites with 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia matrix, a well-known ionic conductor, incorporating two different 2D laminar nanomaterials -graphene or boron nitride nanosheets- as fillers, intended for use in solid oxide fuel cells, with the aim to deepen in the understanding of the mechanisms that control their thermal, mechanical and electrical behavior.
To begin with, a processing study will be carried out in order to obtain composites with an optimized microstructure, always pursuing a homogeneous distribution of the 2D nanomaterial throughout the ceramic matrix and a high density. In a first step, the powder processing routine will be optimized in order to enhance the dispersion of the 2D nanostructure in the composite powder. In a second step, a sintering study with different temperatures and pressures will be carried out with the aim of obtaining fully- dense composites. The effect of the 2D nanostructure incorporation on the ceramic composite microstructure will be analyzed in terms of the crystalline phases and distribution, size and structural integrity of the 2D nanomaterials.
Thermal diffusivity and conductivity measurements will be conducted on the sintered composites, as a function of temperature and under different atmospheres to analyze heat dissipation and the effect of the filler dispersion and orientation in the thermal response. These thermal properties are essential since operation of the solid oxide fuel cell takes place at high temperature.
To ensure structural stability of the composites during operation, high-temperature deformation tests will be performed controlling stress, temperature, and working atmosphere conditions. The identification of the microscopic mechanisms responsible of the creep behavior as well as the comprehension of the fracture mechanisms and plasticity of the composites will be pursued to allow for prediction and control of their structural response in service.
The electrical conductivity measurements fundamental for this application will be carried out on the composites as a function of temperature in order to assess the effect of the incorporation of the different 2D nanostructures. The conduction type -ionic, mixed or electronic- for the composites with different graphene nanosheets contents will be identified.

The main objective of the HIPERTES project is the development of a new concept of high-temperature thermochemical energy storage based on a hybrid system of carbonates and molten salts in a single reactor. Subproject 2 focuses mainly on aspects related to the development of materials suitable for these new operating conditions, as well as their optimization and the study of the behavior of the materials during thermochemical cycles.

Although there are proposals based on the use of solid additives to try to improve the cyclability and performance of thermochemical processes based on carbonation/calcination reactions, these solutions have a limit, since a decay of the activity is always observed with the number of cycles, which becomes more evident as the number of cycles increases. In this project, a novel solution based on hybrid systems of carbonates with molten salts is proposed. The salts will provide an increase in the reactivity of both calcination and carbonation, especially improving the kinetics of the diffusive processes.

Thus, the salts are expected to provide (i) fast calcination and carbonation kinetics to make the loading and unloading processes as fast as possible and (ii) high multicyclic stability avoiding deactivation processes by sintering and pore blocking. Two types of systems are proposed, one based on porous pellets that would be impregnated with the salts and the other based on molten salt baths where the carbonate particles would be dispersed. For the first solution, pelletizing techniques will be used to obtain porous pellets from aqueous suspensions of both mineral and synthetic carbonate particles. The pellets obtained will be impregnated with high-temperature salts. In the second solution, mixtures of salts of high thermal stability will be selected in which carbonate particles or pellets will be dispersed. For the preparation of the porous pellets, freeze granulation techniques will be used to obtain porous and stable pellets from particle suspensions. All prepared materials will be characterized in terms of thermophysical properties and multicyclic behavior. Optimal operating conditions as well as maximum working ranges will be established. These results will be used as parameters for subproject 1.

Subproject 2 has the participation of a multidisciplinary team with expertise in chemistry, solid reactivity, heterogeneous kinetics, physics, and materials science to complete the proposed objectives. They have experience and solvency guaranteed in the execution of national and international projects, in addition to industrial projects, in the field of design and characterization of materials for thermal energy storage.