CIC energiGUNE, a leading Basque research center in electrochemical energy storage and conversion and thermal energy storage and conversion, is advancing in the development of an innovative long-term energy storage system using hydrogen carriers in liquid form. This technology eliminates the need for the current process of producing and managing gaseous hydrogen and opens up the possibility of obtaining high-value chemical products.
The project, part of the European PeCATHS initiative, brings together CIC energiGUNE and six other entities from across the continent. According to Max Garcia-Melchor, Ikerbasque Professor and Principal Investigator of the "Atomistic and Molecular Modeling for Catalysis Group" at CIC energiGUNE, "this project will allow us to directly transfer hydrogen from biomass to Organic Hydrogen Carrier Liquids (OHCLs) without the need to produce hydrogen gas. This improvement will result in a significant optimization of the sustainability and efficiency of the energy systems".
PeCATHS (Photoelectrocatalytic Routes for Long-Term Sustainable Hydrogen Storage) aims to synthesize value-added chemicals and store energy in liquid form by integrating the chemical and energy sectors. In this process, LOHCs play a key role, as they allow hydrogen to be transported in a stable manner and under moderate conditions of pressure and temperature.
To achieve these ambitious goals and meet the economic challenges associated with this technology, PeCATHS will adopt a cost-effective strategy that will leverage biomass as a hydrogen source and solar energy as a renewable source. "With this approach, we not only reduce the energy costs of hydrogen production, but also eliminate the complexities associated with its compression and storage, improving competitiveness against conventional systems," said Prof. García-Melchor, stressing the importance of developing sustainable energy infrastructures for the grids of the future.
Within the PeCATHS consortium, CIC energiGUNE will have a fundamental role, developing computational models and artificial intelligence techniques in order to accelerate the design of materials destined to the oxidation of biomass and long-term hydrogen storage. The center’s contribution ranges from materials screening and mechanistic modeling to the optimization of catalyst composition and reaction conditions, ensuring the efficiency and scalability of the developed technologies.
Coordinated by the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón, the project counts with the participation of prestigious institutions such as Trinity College Dublin, the Fundació Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, European Innovation Marketplace ASBL, Comet Global Innovation and the Universität Zürich. The project is part of Horizon Europe (Grant Agreement No. 101191948) and is financially supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (Contract No. 24.00543).
