On September 8, the Chemistry meets Industry and Society Congress (CIS 2021), hosted a conference by Gabriele Centi, Professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of Messina, Italy, and President of the European Research Institute of Catalysis (ERIC).
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Read MoreLast June 24 and 25, the PERFORM partners showcased different achievements in their designated tasks and discussed in separated workshops the future actions to be taken.
Read MoreFrom June 14 to 17, PERFORM consortium partners TNO, University of Messina, and VITO attended the 12th European Symposium on Electrochemical Engineering (ESEE 2021), held online.
During the venue, Deepak Pant, Senior Scientist at VITO, Roman Latsuzbaia, Scientist at TNO & Voltachem, Carlos Sánchez Martínez, Chemical Research Scientist at TNO and Rosalba Passalacqua presented different abstracts and posters in several sessions:
Roman was involved in the sessions: Fast-tracking electrochemical innovations & matchmaking, and Electrochemical processes applications, and presented the abstract Electrochemical process development for production of biobased maleic acid. For his part, Deepak participated in the session Progress in electrocatalysis and electrocatalytic materials and showcased the abstract Development and upscaling of gas diffusion electrodes for wastewater treatment and electrosynthesis of chemicals. Likewise, Carlos was also involved in the preparation of the abstract and presentation entitled Overcoming mass transport limitations in electrochemical reactors with a pulsating flow electrolyser, together with Roman and other scientist’s colleagues. Finally, Rosalba was in charge of the preparation of the poster NiFe Oxides as Anodic Materials for the Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Glucose to Glucaric Acid.
The scope of ESEE 2021 focused on the topic Electrochemistry for electrification and energy transition toward a sustainable future with the aim to showcase scientific advances in physical, chemical, and biochemical routes towards a future where electrochemical engineering is part of a sustainable society, closing resource cycles and contributing to zero-pollution mobility and manufacturing.
On June 10, PERFORM and its sister project LIBERATE held a webinar entitled Organic Electrochemistry: Towards the electrification of the European Chemical Industry in 2030.
Read MoreInterview with Sorani Montenegro, R&D specialist at Hysytech
What are the main responsibilities of Hysytech within the project?
The responsibilities that Hysytech has in the PERFORM project are mainly focused on work package 4, where we are dealing with the engineering design, scale-up, process optimisation, manufacturing, and assembly of the final technology readiness level 6 platform technology for two targeted reactions. Together with the rest of the consortium partners, Hysytech is responsible for the development of sustainable technology, with high performance and cost-competitive to be able to produce the targeted valuable building blocks. To do so, we are working to build a simple and reliable process, highly integrated and optimised. Later, the process needs to be properly designed with process intensification, decreasing CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) and OPEX (Operating Expense), as well as emissions.
In PERFORM, two different showcases industrially relevant will be demonstrated; the first one consists of the paired electrosynthesis of furfural to maleic acid, and levulinic acid to valeric acid. The second showcase is the paired tandem electrosynthesis of glucose to glucaric acid and further glucaric acid to adipic acid.
Both showcases will be demonstrated in the same platform in which the electro-catalytic reactors will be integrated with the Downstream Process (DSP) for the separation of the reaction products from the electrolyte and product purification. The choice and the optimisation of the unit operations needed for the DSP are deeply dependent on the Upstream Process (UPS), while the UPS configuration depends, at the same time, on e.g., the initial feedstock, electrodes design, and materials, electrochemical reactor configuration, process conditions, etc. This makes clear that close collaboration of Hysytech with the partner dealing at lab scale with the USP and DSP is mandatory.
The UPS core is the electrochemical reactor. Hysytech is responsible for the design, optimisation, and construction of the reactor. A unique prototype of its kind (0.1m2) was manufactured by Hysytech by the end of 2020 and it is being validated at TNO for the production of maleic and valeric acid and it will be tested by VITO in the coming months for adipic acid production. Results from the first testing campaigns and feedback from VITO and TNO will be used to improve the reactor design. The final reactor will then be scaled up using multiple cells, commonly known as stack configuration.
What do you like most about the PERFORM project?
What I mostly like from the PERFORM PROJECT is the innovation degree and variability both in terms of consortium and scope of the project.
The PERFORM project is aiming to reduce the environmental impact of chemical production by lowering CO2 and N2O emissions thanks to the use of biobased products, the development of highly integrated and optimised systems, and the use of renewable energy. In summary, the project is expected to contribute to innovative technology development by reducing the impact of the chemical industry which is in line with Hysytech’s vision.
The consortium is a multidisciplinary group with considerable experience from which you can learn in different competencies. Lastly, we are all together doing really new things and developing innovative processes and it is very exciting for my team and me to be part of this challenge and see if things are going to work or not from a technical, sustainable, and economic point of view.
Read MoreHere you will find the latest advancements and key technologies developed on PERFORM, LIBERATE, DESTINY and SIMPLIFY.
The four projects address the same challenge: Processing of material feedstock using non-conventional energy sources.
Non-conventional energy sources, such as microwave, plasma, ultrasound a have already been applied in process intensification, mainly at lab scale, shond laser, as well as electrochemical and photochemical processes, wing significant improvements in process performance (e.g. improved selectivity, crystal nucleation, reaction speed easing raw material demand) for the benefit of energy efficiency.
The processes powered by non-conventional energy sources are suitable for connection to the electricity grid. They allow variable throughputs to better follow market demand and enable leaner production paradigms (e.g. decreased stock, production on demand). Such technologies are suitable for downscaling and continuous processing, where they can also be coupled with real-time monitoring allowing finer control of the transformations.
Read MorePERFORM celebrated on January 28 & 29 its M24 General Assembly meeting in an online version. There, the partners involved in the consortium informed about the progress of their different tasks.
A new milestone was achieved: the feedstock was selected and characterized. For that process, 7 analytical methods were developed for analysis.
User requirements and specifications for Perform Pilot platform and Conceptual Process Diagrams were delivered.
Likewise, the design and sizing of the reactor modelling were completed.
Preliminary Power Platform demonstration was done, and the system configuration is under the definition.
Finally, progress on the communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities was showcased.
Separated workshops were held to discuss the downstream processing and the two reaction lines. Other separated session was also organised to discuss Intellectual Property and Key Exploitable Results, to gather the opinion of the consortium companies.
Read MoreInterview with Daniel Grau, Biobased Products and Bioenergy Engineer at University of Hohenheim and leader of the Process Assessment for PERFORM
How is an environmental life cycle assessment performed and why is it relevant for the project?
Society is becoming more aware of the importance of environmental protection and the environmental impacts associated with the production and use of products. This sparked interest in the development of methods that take these effects into account and contribute to understanding. The most important technique developed for this purpose is the four-phased life cycle assessment (LCA), a method standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14040/44 standards.
The LCA is characterized by a large number of applications. The study can be used to identify opportunities that lead to the improvement of the environmental performance of products in the various phases of their life cycle. Furthermore, the LCA can help to inform decision-makers in industrial, governmental, or non-governmental organizations. This can influence decision making, e. g. in strategic planning, prioritization, and product or process design. The LCA is advantageous for the selection of relevant indicators of environmental properties including the associated measurement methods. Besides, the LCA can serve as a marketing tool, e. g., by implementing an environmental label or producing an environmental declaration for a product.
Within technical Projects such as the PERFORM project, an LCA can provide decision support along the course of the project to verify and, if necessary, to apply corrections to the process in order to achieve more positive impact environmental indicators.
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