MISSION

Development of new solar thermochemical cycles for green hydrogen and syngas production by water and carbon dioxide splitting at low temperatures.

Development of 3D structures based on those materials capable of absorbing concentrated solar radiation while offering large available geometrical surface area for the solid/gas reactions

Promote the advance in the use of solar energy as a case of exploitation of clean and renewable energies, and increasing energy efficiency in case of combination of the technology with industrial waste heat coming from other industrial sources.   

VISION

Technology and cost-competitive solar fuels production by thermochemical cycles through new materials with enhanced redox properties, operation temperatures in an appropriate range for integration with currently available concentrated solar devices, and innovative designs of solarized reactors for industrial application.  Combination of new materials with the development of macroscopic shaping methods for manufacturing 3D structures, such as 3D printing techniques. Integration of these systems not only with solar heat, but also with waste heat fluxes coming from different industrial proces, due to the range of operation temperatures (700-1000 °C). 

MOTIVATION

In the last ten years the large-scale production of solar fuels has been an area of intense research activity, and a significant progress has been made in the production of two very important types of fuels:  H2, and carbon-based fuels such as carbon monoxide or methane that can be obtained by CO2 reduction using solar radiation as an energy source.In the energy field, H2 is the key player towards a future decarbonization of the economy, whereas syngas (a mixture of CO and H2) is one of the most promising intermediates, since it can be burned in natural gas power plants to generate electricity or be processed obtaining liquid fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch process.