Official launch of e-Refinery initiative

On Tuesday 22 May, the e-Refinery was the talk of the day at the Process & Energy lab at 3mE. The e-Refinery is the brand-new consortium that is using a unique integrated approach, including the materials, processes and upscaling, to help the chemical and energy industry to electrify and decarbonise. Together with programme manager Paulien Herder of TPM, dean Theun Baller of 3mE and Lucas van Vliet, dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, officially launched the consortium at the 3mE pilot plant. 

Investment programme

During the event, the initiative’s recent achievements were highlighted. e-Refinery researchers showed their latest technologies in the areas of electrochemical conversion, flexible energy storage and large-scale conversion of renewable electricity into fuels and chemical building blocks. In the future, such technologies should lead to a fossil-fuel free industry. Also, a substantial TU Delft investment programme was announced.  A lab tour was also on the programme of the event that was visited by academics and representatives from industry and government.

About e-Refinery

In tomorrow’s renewable energy system, the mismatch between supply and demand represents a major challenge. Flexible energy storage in the form of chemicals produced by using electrical energy offers prospects for the energy sector to deal with this challenge. The large-scale production of synthetic fuels, platform chemicals and other materials using electrical energy from renewable sources addresses sustainability demands and is an important step towards creating a circular economy. The experts involved in the e-Refinery initiative believe that this will take a long-term (10+ years) national research and development effort. In the e-Refinery initiative four faculties (TNW, 3mE, EWI and TBM) are joining forces with knowledge institutions, industry and government  to develop a world-leading knowledge ecosystem.

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