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DIFFER and Syngaschem BV establish collaboration on green electricity storage

Published on April 16, 2015

16 April 2015
On April 16 2015, the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research DIFFER and the Eindhoven-based research enterprise Syngaschem BV announced their future collaboration. The intention is to establish an industrial-private partnership that focuses on the storage of green electricity by producing synthetic fuels, as a contribution to a future sustainable energy supply.


Prof. Richard van de Sanden (left, DIFFER) and Prof. Hans Niemantsverdriet (right, Syngaschem BV) sign a Memorandum of Understanding on collaboration between their institute and company on research into sustainable storage of energy. Photo: Vincent van den Hoogen

In the brand-new DIFFER building on the campus of Eindhoven University, Prof. Richard van de Sanden (DIFFER) and Prof. Hans Niemantsverdriet (Syngaschem BV) signed a memorandum of understanding, expressing that DIFFER will host Syngaschem BV with its headquarter and its own small research lab per the end of 2015, for a period of 5 years.

Storing electricity is a major technological challenge for the future of sustainable energy supply due to the intermittent availability of renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The concept pursued by DIFFER and Syngaschem BV uses green electricity to convert water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) into syngas, a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). This syngas can be converted into several clean fuels, such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, methanol or dimethyl ether by using the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis or other related processes. At present, multinationals such as Shell, Sasol and Synfuels China do this on a large scale with their coal-to-liquids and gas-to-liquids technologies, mainly in South Africa, Qatar, and China. Feeding the process with non-fossil syngas results in ultra-clean fuels with a low carbon footprint.

To make this concept work, both partners seek to create breakthroughs at process steps, such as efficient water splitting, and non-conventional CO2 activation by using plasma activation and novel reactor concepts. They expect to benefit from each other’s diverse capabilities, expertise, and international networks and hope to create synergies leading to significant insights and innovations. Syngaschem’s extensive experience with the science of surfaces, materials, catalytic processes, and on novel reactor concepts is a welcome feature at DIFFER institute, which is traditionally strong in plasma technology. Syngaschem BV and its major partner in industry, Synfuels China, are active in coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid technology, but their fundamental understanding of Fischer Tropsch Synthesis is applicable in green electricity storage as well. And like DIFFER, Syngaschem BV invests in knowledge of electrochemistry.

Once the principle of storing green electricity as fuels is proven on a lab scale, DIFFER has the capability to scale up the process to a demonstrator level.


Lab tour after the signing ceremony: Hans Niemantsverdriet inspecting DIFFER's plasma surface interactions-facility Magnum-PSI
Photo: Vincent van den Hoogen

Syngaschem BV

Syngaschem BV is a small research enterprise founded in 2013 and based at the TU/e campus in Eindhoven; its mission is to promote the utilization of synthesis gas on the basis of molecular scale understanding. It collaborates with and receives the majority of its funding from its Chinese partner Synfuels China Technology Co. Ltd, which is the leader in clean coal-to-liquids technology in China. Syngaschem BV momentarily employs six research scientists, with three permanently based in Eindhoven. Since 2015, Synfuels China and Syngaschem together operate the fundamental research institute SynCat@Beijing, with a projected headcount of 25 research scientists, all at the postdoctoral level or higher.
www.syngaschem.com

 

DIFFER

The mission of the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research DIFFER is to conduct leading fundamental research in the fields of fusion and solar fuels, in close partnership with academia and industry. To successfully transfer fundamental insights to society at large, DIFFER is actively building an energy science society through the formation of multidisciplinary networks. 
DIFFER's solar fuels research addresses the global challenge of energy storage and transport by converting intermittent sustainable energy into fuels. The research involves the synthesis and design of novel materials and processes to obtain scalable, efficient and cost-effective systems.
www.differ.nl

 

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