The REGENERA project – developed by a consortium of seven companies (the DAM Group, ENGIE, Sorigué, Tyris AI, H2B2, AIGUASOL and Exolum) aims to develop innovative technologies to store surplus renewable energy efficiently and economically and use it in industrial processes for the production of green fuels, hydrogen, methane and hythane. These can be used to generate heat or electricity, as precursors for other chemicals and/or in transport to promote sustainable mobility. Artificial Intelligence models are used throughout to optimise the use of energy resources.
The 40-month research project is based on the expectation that energy from renewable sources will grow from 25% today to 86% in 2050.
During its implementation, the REGENERA project will investigate two innovative strategies to increase sustainability in the future through two main drivers: reducing the cost of storage and making renewable fuel production more economically competitive.
Exolum’s role in the project involves researching storage and distribution technologies for renewable hydrogen in liquid carriers. This form of hydrogen logistics represents a great opportunity, as it would address the logistics of this new energy vector using existing infrastructures, which reflects a basic principle of the circular economy.
Specifically, LOHC-Catalyst-Support triplets, which are optimal for use in existing liquid fuel infrastructures, are being investigated. New LOHCs are being studied for higher storage capacities, and safe operation from renewable sources.
This multi-sector consortium includes 6 research centres of excellence with experience and capacity in the management of disruptive projects that will seek to scale up the results of this project to new international programmes, such as the Leitat Technological Center, the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), the Energy Technology Institute (ITE), the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM), the Catalonia Energy Research Institute (IREC) and the IMDEA Water Institute.
The REGENERA project “Research into hybrid storage technologies and predictive models to transform industries into decentralised hubs of renewable energy management”, is financed by funds from the recovery plan for Europe ‘NextGenerationEU’ and forms part of the State RDI Programme “Science and Innovation Missions” of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
