July 2018-March 2023

The overall objective of the project is to stimulate investment in and implementation of Power-to-X technologies by developing innovative direct and indirect conversion processes for the chemical industry towards higher TRL’s, while making use of renewable electricity and lowering the carbon footprint. With these technologies, valuable fuels and platform chemicals can be produced from renewable raw materials while decreasing costs and increasing flexibility. The aim is to develop at least two pilot demonstrators at TRL 6 – 7 and two bench scale pilot installations at TRL 4 with supporting feasibility evaluations, thereby lowering the risks of investment for companies, especially SME’s, and positioning the 2 Seas region as an innovation leader in Power-to-X sustainable technologies. For more information visit the website https://www.interreg2seas.eu/en/E2C. Funded by European Regional Development Fund.

________________________________________________________________________________

The research group Applied Electrochemistry & Catalysis (ELCAT) of professor Tom Breugelmans belongs to the Faculty of Applied Engineering and mainly focuses on electrochemistry. The core research activities within ELCAT are related to the development of state-of-the art electrochemical reactors and catalysts, with a view towards large-scale industrial development in the field of industrial electrification, in a green and sustainable way to ultimately replace the traditional chemical processes. The scope there is to improve controllability, flexibility and energy efficiency of the reactions through electrocatalyst and reactor design. This research can thus be subdivided in three main topics, which are interrelated: electrocatalysis, electrosynthesis and electrochemical reactor engineering.

From those research topics, two major aspects of the identity as a group clearly come to the surface: industrial application and green chemistry. Up to date, ELCAT mainly focused on the synthesis, characterization and application of supported (bi)metallic nanoparticles for different electrochemical applications with a focus on studying selectivity, activity and stability. It is our hope that by working on the different levels from the (electro)catalyst to the actual reactor, future industrial processes can be based on the environmentally more friendly electrochemical approach, replacing the conventional batch chemical processes.