The Geniusfuels Project

The overall objective of the coordination and management WP is the smooth realisation of the project. In
particular, coordinating and supervising the project research and innovation activities, carrying out the administrative management and reporting of the project, managing the IPR related to the achieved results and the data generated by the project.

Conventional Solid Oxide Electrolyser (SOEC) are not optimised for their combination with a gasification process blown with O2; instead, they are usually designed and optimised for H2 production, while the co-produced O2 is not generally recovered and an air sweep gas is used at the oxygen electrode side. The aim of this WP is the development of a SOEC specifically optimised to be used in combination with gasification, to obtain a N2-poor and/or free syngas suitable for the synthesis of green methanol and other synthetic fuels. Particularly, O2 richer atmosphere will be considered at the oxygen electrode side of the SOEC, to reduce the further dilution of the O2 before the gasification process. The eventual dilution with air and/or CO2 of the O2 will be also considered.

The gasification unit provided by IRIDENERGY is a very flexible one and can be fed with 50 Kg/h of biomass. The unit is able to process dry, humid, and shovelable biomass thanks to two distinct loading devices, allowing operation with varying amounts of moisture and lignocellulosic fraction. Moreover, it allows feeding of oxidants (i.e. O2/steam) at two different heights. This WP aims at investigating the gasification process by varying moisture content of the biomass feedstock (dry, humid and shovelable), its type (lignocellulosic, waste biomass and digestate), and by feeding O2/steam mixtures in different ratios instead of air as primary oxidant. Moreover, The goal of this task is to realise an effective in-bed, high-temperature removal of particulate from the outlet of the gasifier before the oxy-reforming catalyst and the development of the oxy-reforming process integrated with the gasification unit to produce a syngas suitable for the synthesis of fuels. Finally this WP will provide the in-depth characterization and valorisation of solid residue (biochar) of gasification. Comprehensive physicochemical characterization of biochar obtained by processing different biomass types will be performed, as well as the assessment of their soil enhancement properties and eco-compatibility.

The objective of this work package is to develop a catalyst solution, including the use of filters, and guard beds, for the oxy-reforming of tar compounds as well as lighter hydrocarbons in one or multiple steps, allowing for more than 90% conversion of the tars and 80% conversion of the lighter hydrocarbons (below C20) for more than 8000 hours on stream. The developed catalyst will contain more than 99.9% of non-precious metals and will be able to operate with less than 5 % addition of oxygen and/or steam on a molar basis to the generated syngas with the ambition to minimise the use of oxygen and steam, while still meeting the catalyst performance and lifetime targets.

The goal of the WP is the optimization of feed purification and catalytic process for the MeOH and DME production. The WP will develop catalyst and processes to reduce the concentration of pollutants (e.g., H2S, HCl) as much as possible before MeOH/DME synthesis. Moreover, the aim of this WP is the development of a MeOH and/or DME catalysts and production processed tailored to obtain the most favourable adaptation to the characteristics of the gas obtained in the previous WP.

WP6 will take care of collecting input and output of each subsystem gathering the main results and the different options for integration of the project, critically analysing the integration of each unit outlining optimization space and opportunities. Environmental performance will be quantified by means of significative key performance indicators (KPI). Finally, Dissemination activities will be carried out with the aim of transferring the results and knowledge achieved to stakeholder groups and the European public, in order to share this information with subjects able to further maximise the impact of the project.

The aim of WP7 is to exchange and co-create knowledge between RDI stakeholders, all CETPartnership funded projects and other CETP initiatives to optimise European research effort. Moreover, it will monitor GeniusFuel progress and results in order to share information and generate synergies for knowledge co-creation in the thematic area addressed by TRI3. Finally it will strategically manage knowledge generated from GeniusFuel to provide significant information for policy makers.