Greening the Process Industry

Focus area of Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES)

Greening the Process Industry - GPI

Making the process industry more sustainable, for example via (electro)catalysis, electrification of industrial heat, and development of efficient small-scale chemical reactors.

The focus area Greening the Process Industry focuses on developing sustainable alternatives to the current fossil based industrial processes and practices. These new sustainable practices are based on electric heating, electrochemistry, and the introduction of circular carbon and hydrogen as feedstock. Further research is required on catalysis, hydrogen combustion and small-scale chemical reactors such as electrolyzers and spinning disc reactors.

The focus area Greening the Process Industry primarily addresses the chemistry and engineering of systems for the production and use of sustainable energy carriers like hydrogen and metal powder. Technologies to produce chemicals from waste compounds such as captured CO₂, biomass and other waste products are also explored.

GPI for science, society and industry

The focus area GPI works on solutions to make the process industry greener and more sustainable. This can have enormous positive effects on the environment and society and requires active involvement of academia and industry.

Scientific questions
The focus area Greening the Process Industry revolves around the chemistry and engineering of systems for the production and use of sustainable chemicals. These chemicals can play an important role as energy carriers like H₂, NH₃, metal powder, and renewable carbon-containing fuels (methanol, dimethyl ether, oxymethylene ether), and as precursor in the chemical industry as CO, ethylene, ammonia, carbonates, etc. The energy carriers will need to be synthesized at a substantial scale, which will enable the industry to switch to renewable powered production supported by CO₂ capture technologies. On the other hand, the use of captured CO₂ and waste chemicals can lead to green alternative direct production technologies of high-value chemicals, leading to a major decrease in carbon emissions. These ambitions pose big scientific challenges in fundamental chemical, material, and engineering research, as well as in its integration into technological solutions.

Chemistry
Regarding chemistry, the aim is to unravel the detailed relationship between structure (e.g. morphology, grain boundaries, facets, bulk versus surface effects, oxidation states, and dopants) and performance of (photo/electro/plasma-) catalysts. This scientific goal aims to benefit from machine learning-driven approaches to screen materials ab initio, as well as from advanced diagnostic tools to investigate reaction mechanisms occurring at gas-liquid-solid interfaces.

Engineering
On the engineering side, EIRES researchers work on developing electrolyzers for H₂ as a key enabler and on (photo/electro/plasma-) technologies to produce (or convert) other energy carriers like NH₃, renewable carbon-based fuels, and metal powder. On the use side, the focus is on the development of chemical reactors such as furnaces, turbines, and engines for combustion processes as well as fluidized bed for the regeneration of metal powder. The fundamental understanding of physical behavior, transport phenomena and material characteristics of such energy carriers is also an important part of the research.

Societal relevance
Our current process industry heavily relies on fossil fuels. Not only to provide the energy that is needed to transform raw materials into consumer products, but also as a feedstock for a myriad of products, ranging from kerosine and plastics to cosmetics and fertilizer.

The focus area Greening the Process Industry develops alternatives for both uses of oil and natural gas. By using renewable energy sources to power electrolyzers, hydrogen is produced and either used as a fuel or combined with captured CO₂ to produce hydrocarbons as a feedstock for industrial purposes. On the other hand, chemical synthesis directly powered by renewable energy can contribute to lowering the gas emissions from the industry and to develop non-centralized chemical production.

The search for alternative energy storage media drives the development of metal fuels, which form a great alternative for applications where space matters, but weight does not, like long-duration storage or long distance transport by boat.

Opportunities for industry
The production, storage and transport of new sustainable energy carriers requires the development of new components like power electronics, pressure valves, compressors, cooling systems et cetera. This opens up many opportunities for the manufacturing industry to contribute to an ascending field with high economic and social relevance.

EIRES researchers are involved in multiple public-private programs and initiatives where industry is an active partner:

Future Chemistry: An EIRES-funded collaboration among the CEC, APSE, ME and EE departments to tackle the challenges for sustainable H₂ production, electro-synthesis of high-value chemicals, metal fuels and system integration.
ARC-CBBC: the Netherlands鈥� national research center for circular and sustainable chemistry.
National Growth Fund programs on green hydrogen, green steel, and battery development.

Principal Scientists

Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry

Marta Costa Figueiredo

Department Mechanical Engineering

Giulia Finotello

Related Research Groups

We acknowledge the 果冻传媒 research groups which are already involved with EIRES, either through the 果冻传媒 Sector Plan positions and PhD projects. We welcome all research groups interested in collaborating and contributing to the research focus of EIRES.

Contact

EIRES | Focus Area: Greening the Process Industry (GPI)

Marta Costa Figueiredo - m.c.costa.figueiredo@tue.nl
Giulia Finotello - g.finotello@tue.nl
EIRES office - eires@tue.nl

果冻传媒