The POLITE project – which stands for “Development of Prototypes for POwer-to-Liquid TEchnologies” – has reached to an end on May 31st, 2024. The main goal of the project was to develop prototypes for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO, and for the catalytic conversion of syngas (CO + H2) to liquid fuel hydrocarbons that can be used in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation and maritime transport. The project included the evaluation and techno-economic analysis of the routes for converting CO2 into liquid fuels by two-step processes that combine electro- and thermal catalysis.
The project included secondments in two companies in the energy sector: MMM Energy (Spain) and Hysytech S.r.l. (Italy). An active collaboration with these companies was stablished for the design and manufacturing of one chemical reactor capable of working at moderate pressures (2.0 MPa) for syngas conversion to liquid fuels (MMM Energy), and a 640 cm2 electrochemical stack for low-temperature CO2 electro-reduction capable of achieving current densities > 100 mA/cm2. This Tecniospring project allowed IREC to develop new capabilities and prototypes for the study and scale-up of synthetic liquid fuels using CO2 and green hydrogen as feedstock.
IREC was pleased to host Dr Andrés Alberto García Blanco as a Tecniospring Industry researcher. Tecniospring is ACCIÓ’s international talent programme, which boosts technology transfer processes by offering R&D companies and TECNIO centres 2-year employment contracts to host a researcher.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801342 (Tecniospring INDUSTRY) and the Government of Catalonia’s Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ).
