Catalytic reforming of glycerol to hydrogen and biopropane in hydrothermal media
The ultimate goal of this 15 months Fellowship, entitled “Catalytic Reforming of Glycerol to Hydrogen and Biopropane in Hydrothermal Media” (HYDROGAS) is to train a talented researcher through a research project focused on the development of novel process to make viable the use of the glycerol co-product derived during the use of vegetable oils for the production of liquid hydrocarbon biofuels.. This innovative HYDROGAS project aims to investigate for the first time the potential of a novel two-stage catalytic process to produce hydrogen and biopropane from catalytic reforming of glycerol in hydrothermal media. The two-stage approach would enable deriving all the hydrogen requirements for the HEFA by using glycerol as a hydrogen-source. This can contribute to a positive process economics for the HEFA bio-jet fuel production. The transfer of knowledge between the researcher, the host, the supervisor, the students and international research groups will be very important for the dissemination of the learning through training, publications in journals of high impact factor, development of patent and participation in international conferences. The Fellow will receive access to an innovative project experience at the host: Sustainable Chemicals Laboratory in the European Bioenergy Research Institute, Aston University, UK (Dr. Jude Onwudili), and at academic secondment partner: University of Zaragoza, Spain (Prof Lucia Garcia). HYDROGAS aims to investigate the development of a new methodology to produce biopropane for a large-scale deployment in substitution for petroleum-based LPG that can contribute to lowering carbon emissions. In addition, the thermodynamic study to consolidate the catalytic reforming from crude glycerol will be a positive challenge for this team to work together and evaluate the expected results. The HYDROGAS will permeate the whole fellowship and will be a valuable and challenging mixture of scientific research and training for the Fellow.