Research Projects

The Solar Energy Challenge. Throughout history, the most significant improvements in humanity have been linked to the industrial revolution (IR). Nowadays, we are immersed in the 4th IR “The digitally disruptive era” where Europe is on a transition towards climate neutrality and digital leadership.1 Industry 5.0 aims to position research and innovation to the service of the transition to a sustainable, human-centric, and resilient European industry.2 Solar chemical technologies will radically alter the existing models of industrial production and energy transformation and storage. However, the needed scale is in sight but not yet reached due to the lack of available highly performance and low-cost technologies. SolarChem 5.0 aims to contribute to the 5th IR, laying the foundation basis of the synergy between ecological and digital transition in the framework of Solar Chemistry through: “The development of an innovative Digital Solar Chemistry technology, to convert Earth-abundant resources and pollutants into fuels and chemicals, filling the gap between sustainable and scalable solar-driven technologies”

To achieve this ambitious objective and taking into account the complexity and the project duration our strategy is based on the design of an interdisciplinary consortium formed by four subprojects (SP) that include leading research groups in complementary disciplines such as: Chemistry, Material Science, Bio-catalysis, Photoelectrochemistry, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Solar Technologies and Advanced Characterization. Each SP incorporates a multidisciplinary crew composed by more than one research team from different research institutions, universities, and/or singular facilities.

This subproject dedicated to photoreactors (SP3) will be concentrated in the conceptual design and development of a Solar photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactor for the selection of the most suitable configuration for the reaction and the operation of the solar collector. The research activities of this SP3 will be developed in WP5 and managed by researchers from two different institutions: PSA-CIEMAT (leader of SP3) and ICMSE-CSIC. The “Plataforma Solar de Almería” (PSA) is a European Large Scientific Installation and a Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure of Spain (ICTS) with a vast background in the design, construction, and implementation of solar reactors for photochemical reactions, together with outstanding installations. The PSA-CIEMAT team also has extensive experience in the use of ray tracing programs such as TONATIUH and SOLTRACE for the opto-energetic characterization of concentrating solar power systems. Likewise, a set of self-developed solar thermal simulation tools validated in the different low and medium-temperature solar pilot plants available at PSA. In addition, ICMSE-CSIC team will participate in the development of the PEC Cell and the electrode integration.

POP-UP project aims to provide, in terms of circular bioeconomy, sustainable, safe, and economically viable solutions to the massive use of petroleum-based BPA resins in food packaging through the fabrication of multifunctional, high-performance coatings for metal substrates from inexpensive, underutilized agro-food by-products. In particular, peels resulting from the industrial food processing of potatoes will be used as a bio-renewable resource of suberin monomers to fabricate biodegradable, bio-based lacquers by green and large-scalable technologies (i.e. spray from aqueous solutions and free-solvent, non-catalyzed melting polycondensation) for sustainable and innocuous food packaging. This suberin-based coating will offer same benefits and properties with respect to BPA resins, but it will be designed to be fully non-toxic and with antimicrobial properties. Hence, main objectives are related to improve food security, to contribute to an ecological transition from a linear fossil-based economy to a circular bioeconomy, and to increase agricultural productivity by upcycling plant residues.