Future and Emerging Technologies - Energy X
Energy-X: Transformative Chemistry for a Sustainable Energy Future
Introduction
The ENERGY-X CSA (Coordination & Support Action), funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, will mobilise European researchers and industry over the next twelve months, in order to build a strategic roadmap towards a large-scale research initiative addressing the efficient conversion of solar and wind energy into chemical form. The ENERGY-X CSA is coordinated by Jens K. Nørskov, Villum Kann Rasmussen Professor at the Technical University of Denmark, includes 13 partners across Europe and is supported by a large group of industrial companies.
Project description
Climate change makes it imperative that we discover ways of producing energy and chemicals sustainably and replacing the fossil fuels that form the basis for our energy and chemical industry. ENERGY-X will develop the science and the technology needed to enable economically sound production of carbon-neutral fuels, chemicals, and materials.
ENERGY-X will contribute to new science and disruptive technology in the field of molecular and interfacial catalysis, and will combine this ambition with scale-up to industrially relevant conditions by integrating with European industry.
Objectives
The main focus will be on three key processes, which are amongst the most challenging in chemistry:
- Water splitting for hydrogen production
- CO2 reduction
- N2 reduction
These three fundamental reactions are chosen because they provide platforms to transfer renewable energy into multiple sectors of the energy system.
ENERGY-X will not only create scalable scientific solutions but also transfer this knowledge into two demonstration projects, namely the manufacturing of carbon-neutral aviation fuels and the decentralized production of fertilizers with zero CO2 footprint.
Role of UGent
The Centre for Sustainable Chemistry (CSC) at Ghent University will develop several models from the nano-scale to the scale of a complete chemical plant, in order to make sure that developments based on new chemical reactions can be implemented in demonstration projects. This will contribute to the transition towards a CO2-neutral economy and allow a growing number of people on Earth access to the energy and materials characterizing modern life while reducing our environmental footprint and abating climate change.
UGent Centre for Sustainable Development (CDO) will focus on the interplay between the innovations envisioned in Energy-X and society. Challenges related to societal and policy aspects will be identified in order to address them in an early stage of the project.
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