Personal Grants

A. Anastasopol MSc, dr. E. Perez Gallent (TNO), prof.dr.ir. E.L.V. Goetheer, prof.dr.ir. W. de Jong (TUD), ETB catalytic technologies, VSParticle, Ruhr Universität Bochum (DE), Fraunhofer UMSICHT (DE)

E-CARB is developing a showcase for a novel electrochemical utilization route of CO2, renewable electricity and circular bio-feedstock for the production of adipic acid, a precursor of nylon 6,6 polymer. E-CARB gathers a consortium of academic experts and companies along the nylon 6,6 polymer value chain from Germany and the Netherlands.

Dr. ir. J.W. Haverkort (TUD), Magneto, Veco, Thyssenkrupp (DE), RWThAachen University (DE)

Hydrogen is very suitable for the large scale storage of green electricity. In this project we are working on better electrodes, to significantly reduce the price of hydrogen. Using simulations, we determine how the shape of the electrodes can be improved, which we test, to ultimately arrive at optimal electrodes.

Prof. dr. ir. J.R. van Ommen (TUD), prof.dr. D. Segets (Universität Duisburg-Essen, DE), Coatema Machinery (DE), Johnson Matthey, Covestro

The energy transition will require novel large-scale equipment for energy conversion, e.g. for the production of hydrogen. The components of such equipment (electrodes, membranes) will also need to be manufactured at large scale, while working economically with the required scarce metals. Our research aims at developing production methodologies to achieve this.

Within a highly competitive pathfinder call, the MacGhyver project of dr.ir. Willem Haverkort has been awarded over 0.5 million Euro for a PhD student and 1.5 year postdoc at TU Delft.

MacGhyver, that stands for Microfluidic wAstewater treatment and Creation of Green HYdrogen Via Electrochemical Reactions, produces green hydrogen from wastewater using innovation in high-volume microfluidics, non-CRM electrodes and electrochemical compression. The device performs advanced water treatment while producing hydrogen, resulting in clean water as a byproduct. The design consists of modular, stackable units, capable of small to large scale production volume. The novel components (microfluidic electrolyser, electrochemical compressor, separator) are combined with existing renewable energy sources, for maximum sustainability. Design and development are guided by life-cycle analysis of each system. Ultimately, the device enables the production of clean energy and clean water, a key enabling technology for decarbonization and the advent of the European Green Deal.

To meet the growing demand for green energy carriers and clean water for the next decades, we can use the increasing supply of harvested solar and wind energy to synthesize fuels (hydrogen, syngas, ammonia, etc.) and clean water via electrochemical methods. Electrochemical methods have the advantage of single-step, energy-efficient and low-temperature conversion of chemicals. However, despite developments in electrocatalysts and system design in the past decade, none of the electrochemical methods has grown to a market-leading technology in the energy or water sector because of limitations in process intensification. A boost in electrical current density, without sacrificing energy efficiency, is required to allow large-scale deployment.

This process intensification needs breaking three limitations in mass transport, at three different scales: 1) the diffusion boundary layer (microscale), 2) gas bubble interference (mm-scale) and 3) concentration gradients in the flow compartments bulk. This ERC project will use a multiscale approach to address these three mass transport limitations, and has the objective to understand and enhance mass transport using novel concepts. Diffusion limitations will be addressed via studying suspension electrodes, gas bubbles will be controlled while synergistically disturbing the diffusion boundary layer via pressure swing control, and reactor engineering concepts that are new to the field of electrochemistry are used to mitigate macro-scale concentration gradients. Water electrolysis, CO₂ electrolysis and electrodialysis will be used as tool to evaluate these strategies, using fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and micro particle image velocimetry (μPIV) to observe the local environment at microscale within large-scale systems. This multiscale approach with in-situ measurements of local flow and concentrations will target the fundamental understanding and control of mass transport limitations for universal electrochemical conversion.

The recycling of CO₂ will play an important role in mitigating the energy and environmental problems that our future societies will no doubt face. Electrochemistry is a powerful technology that can make use of renewable electricity from solar and wind to power the transformation of CO₂ and water to valuable chemicals and fuels. However, the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ is not ready for large-scale deployment due to the poor activity, selectivity, and stability of the current catalysts used. The only way to be able to achieve better understanding of this complicated system is through careful characterization of the catalyst/electrolyte interface during electrochemical measurements, as well as the development of new theoretical models that include the effects of the electrolyte. In this proposal, I will develop an integrated approach to study the effects of the catalyst and electrolyte compositions on the formation of desired chemical products during electrochemical CO₂ reduction. To ensure a robust model of the catalyst/electrolyte interface can be established, I will focus on manipulating the catalyst and electrolyte compositions in parallel, while observing the formation of reaction intermediates as a function of applied potential. The proposal will focus on Cu-based electrodes, as Cu has uniquely shown the ability to form hydrocarbon products. To understand how the product formation changes, operando techniques will be used to monitor the reaction intermediates during electrochemical cycling, to reveal new insights to the reaction pathway for a given product. A theoretical model will be developed in parallel that focuses on understanding the nature of the electrochemical activity of ions used in this reaction. Finally, the transport and reactivity of these ions will be evaluated in use with a bipolar membrane, which can effectively separate the electrochemical environments of the CO₂ reduction reaction and corresponding water oxidation reaction.

New energy technologies that produce electricity, chemicals and fuels with low-carbon intensities are essential in the upcoming energy transition away from fossil-fuels. One such technology, electrochemical CO₂ reduction (also known as CO₂ electrolyzers), can fill this role by directly converting carbon-dioxide into base chemicals such as carbon-monoxide, ethylene and ethanol, building blocks for many common chemicals and fuels. CO₂ electrolyzers are still in the early stage of development, however, with almost all current work focused on finding catalysts which can reduce CO₂ with excellent catalytic properties including selectivity, activity and stability. Comparatively little effort has gone into the CO₂ electrolyzer reactor itself, which is essential to scale the technology to industrially-relevant sizes capable of impacting global CO₂ emissions. Thus, even if ideal catalysts were discovered tomorrow, we lack the knowledge of how to implement them at a commercial scale. Tom Burdyny (Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage), who participates in the ambitious e-Refinery initiative, seeks to design and construct a 1 kW CO₂ electrolyzer that is inherently stable and forms the foundation for further scaling. 

This project aims to unravel the flow physics of multicomponent, multiphase systems with complex interfaces, which are of emerging interest in areas ranging from advanced materials, to chemical conversion, to airborne disease transmission. These systems straddle the frontier between the field of fluid mechanics, where multicomponent systems are an emerging topic, and the field of colloid & interface science, where complex interfaces formed by surfactants, proteins or colloids can completely govern the overall flow behaviour. Understanding the role of complex interfaces on multicomponent, multiphase fluid mechanics is a formidable challenge because these systems are extremely complex, their phenomenology is very rich, and quantitative measurements are difficult. To overcome this challenge, we will develop a new interdisciplinary approach pushing the boundaries of fluid mechanics, colloid & interface science, and soft matter. Building on the latest advances in these fields, we will develop and integrate novel experimental approaches including in-situ, real-time visualization of concentration fields and advanced microstructure imaging, combined with multiscale modelling.

As proof of principle, we will apply this new approach to the case of Pickering emulsions for chemical conversion. These water/organic emulsions stabilized by solid particles hold exciting potential as platforms for sustainable chemical processing, promising higher conversion rates and selectivity, and easier catalyst recovery. Despite promising lab-scale findings, industry-scale application of Pickering emulsions is hampered by the current lack of understanding of the flow physics involved. Our new approach will fill this gap in our fundamental description of Pickering emulsion reactors, enabling the development of mechanistic models to predict reactor performance which underpins the future design of a full-scale Pickering emulsion reactor.

Heterogeneous catalysis plays vital roles in the production of chemicals and fuels, environmental protection and as enabler of future technologies towards sustainable and circular development. Innovative catalytic technologies are widely developed; however only a minute fraction of such technologies sees the commercial light after a long R&D of a few decades. With pressing environmental and energy issues we face, acceleration of these technology development and transfer steps are crucial. One major obstacle for this step is the complexity of catalytic processes occurring on different length scales varying from atomic to reactor scales. Ideally, catalytic performance (activity and selectivity) is precisely understood qualitatively in terms of reaction mechanism and quantitatively in terms of intrinsic reaction kinetics. With this information, in theory we can rationally propose novel materials and optimal reaction conditions and reactor types, leading to speed-up and higher success probability of commercialisation.

With this background, this project aims at methodological development towards acceleration of rational catalytic material and process design based on the information about physicochemical gradients present in catalytic reactors such as the gradients of fluid concentration, catalyst state, type and concentration of surface species, and temperature on the reactor scale. Two operando infrared (IR) spectroscopic methods will be developed; far-IR spectroscopy to study critical steps and chemical bonds during catalytic transformation, and IR emission spectroscopy to study active surface sites/species at high temperatures. Furthermore, by means of operando UV-Vis-NIR hyperspectral imaging, fluid concentration, redox state of active metal and support materials and their spatiotemporal gradients will be elucidated. Combining with the gradient information gained by complementary analytical techniques (e.g. spatiotemporal gas sampling, temperature measurements, electronic/geometric structure analysis), catalytic reaction mechanisms and kinetics will be investigated for CO oxidation, CO₂ conversion and methane activation as important case studies.

90% of raw materials used today in the EU chemical industry are still from fossil origin. Professor Andrea Ramírez Ramírez will develop a methodology to systematically analyse the impact of replacing fossil fuels with alternative raw materials in petrochemical industrial clusters. Such industrial clusters are complex systems with many and increasingly intertwined processes between and within firms. Intervention in any single process can affect other processes both at the local scale of an industrial cluster, and in the supply chains involved. In a novel approach, Ramírez will adapt concepts from invasion ecology to assess the impact on resources, energy and costs at the local and the system level of replacing fossil resources with alternative raw materials in industrial ecosystems. She will also explore which strategies and technologies will result in the larger gains in the medium and long term. She will apply this approach to a model that mimics the Rotterdam Pernis/Moerdijk petrochemical industrial cluster. The model can later be adapted to study any (petrochemical) industrial cluster in the world.