HYSTRAM, LESGO, DECADE: advances in green chemistry

HYSTRAM

The 6M meeting of the HYSTRAM project (EU Horizon) was held in Bari (Italy) on 29^th and 30^th November 2022. The partners who are developing the adsorbent materials and catalysts have shown their results, which seem to be very promising for ammonia production. Simulations of the reaction and adsorption system were carried out during the first 6 months, which will allow Casale and HYSYTECH to start with the basic and detailed engineering of the prototype in the next period. Furthermore, CiaoTech-PNO led the first exploitation workshop of the key exploitable results.

HYSTRAM aims at the Ammonia production at TRL5 through an intensified and optimized Haber-Bosch process. This will be a very interesting and cost-effective technology for H₂ storage and NH₃ production for its use within the chemical industry. Within the project, novel catalysts and sorbent materials will be developed to be employed in our process.

HYSYTECH's role will focus on reactor development and process integration, as well as the construction and installation of the final prototype.

LESGO

On the 1^st and 2^nd of December, GENCELL hosted the LESGO (EU Horizon) 24M meeting in Tel-Aviv. The latest results regarding the production of graphene oxide, nanoparticles, graphene oxide reduction and dehydrogenation for energy production were shown. HYSYTECH has presented the reactor and prototype design, which will be manufactured in the next months. The process will be validated by IREC at TRL4 with the HYSYTECH prototype, while ICFO will integrate the sunlight energy through PV panels.

The LESGO project proposes to store energy in the C-H bond of reduced graphene oxide (rGO-H) and want to demonstrate that rGO-H can become an ideal energy stock, at an affordable cost, used to supply electrical power on demand.

HYSYTECH is responsible for the design, scale-up and manufacturing of the TRL5 LESGO prototype to store H in GO flakes. It is also involved in the testing and validation and, furthermore, is responsible for the techno-economic analysis.

DECADE

On the 2^nd of December the partners of the DECADE project (EU Horizon) had the 30M meeting in Rome. The discussion continued on the materials development (cathodic, anodic and electrolyte) and on the design of the photo-electrocatalytic cell (PEC) and TRL5 prototype.

Within DECADE, a new photo-electrocatalytic (PEC) approach is implemented for the conversion of CO2 avoiding water oxidation as anodic reaction to overcome the current limitations in PEC systems and to maximize effective energy utilization. The proposed PEC system will convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and bioethanol into ethyl acetate and ethyl formate, to be used as drop-in green solvent or as octane booster fuel component.

HYSYTECH is the leader of Work Package 5, that deals with the scale-up, design and construction of the final TRL5 prototype. HYSYTECH, with the partners' support, will design and manufacture the final photo-electrocatalytic reactor and the ancillary equipment for a successful demonstration.