SUPERVAL consortium meets in Jülich to review progress after one year of project

Last November 29th, the SUPERVAL partners gathered for a consortium meeting at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, marking the 12-month milestone in the project’s timeline. This consortium meeting served to reflect the steady progress in the SUPERVAL project, which seeks to develop scientific solutions from low-cost, non-critical raw materials and processes, to transform carbon and nitrogen emissions into valuable resources such as formate or ammonia.   A full-day meeting: WP updates and lab visits The day began with a welcome introduction from Tsvetelina Merdzhanova (Forschungszentrum Jülich), who opened the meeting as the host, followed by JR Galán-Mascarós (ICIQ) as the project coordinator. Each work package (WP) leader then provided detailed updates on their tasks, highlighting the ongoing progress across key areas of the project. The presentations started with the updates from WP1, where Stefano Giancola (Orchestra Scientific) and Susanne Gooijer (TU/e) showcased progress in developing innovative materials for efficient gas separation. WP2 followed, focusing on CO₂/water-photo-electrolysis, with presentations by Veronica Costantino (Università degli Studi di Messina), Yuzhe Liu (Forschungszentrum Jülich), and ICIQ researchers Ghazaleh Abdolhosseini and Lulu Li. For WP3, Josep Albero (ITQ-UPV-CSIC) detailed advancements in Photocatalytic hydrogenation of N₂ and NO_x to ammonia. WP4 updates on device integration, SUPERVAL technology performance validation and feasibility assessment were presented by Sofia Calero (TU/e), Martí Rufí (2.0 LCA), and Laura González (Vareser). In the afternoon session, Arnau Jordà (ICIQ) highlighted WP5 dissemination plans and communication strategies, followed by Silvia Planella and Eva Alcázar (ICIQ) reviewing WP6 project management. Lastly, Stefano Giancola and Arnau Jordà summarized portfolio activities, emphasizing the team’s engagement with other projects as part of the WP7 tasks. The productive consortium meeting finished with a visit to Forschungszentrum Jülich’s research facilities, giving the consortium an opportunity to see the infrastructure that supports the scientific work.   About SUPERVAL: SUPERVAL, short for “SUstainable Photo-ElectRochemical VALorization of flue gases,” is a three-year project to transform carbon and nitrogen emissions into valuable resources. It has been allocated €3.5 million in funding by the European Union under the EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2022 call.

The project unique modular approach, envision the capture and transformation of CO₂ into an organic, energy-rich molecule (formate) with a photo-electrolytic process. The NO_x will be also captured and transformed, in combination with N₂,into ammonia using the hydrogen obtained in the CO₂ co-electrolysis processes. This integrated effort will offer the comprehensive capture and valorization of carbon and nitrogen components in post-combustion emissions, thus limiting pollutants and resulting in added-value chemicals.

The consortium includes the following organizations: ICIQ as coordinator of the project, the ICIQ Spin-off Orchestra Scientific, Universitat Politècnica de València, INSTM – Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali and Università degli Studi di Messina, Forschungszentrum Julich, the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, VARESER and 2.-0 LCA Consultants.

For more information have a look at SUPERVAL’s website and follow the project on social media: LinkedIn, X and Instagram.

The SUstainable Photo-ElectRochemical VALorization of flue gases – SUPERVAL project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe, Grant Agreement No. 101115456