Last Friday, 17 November, the H2CAT network organised its first H2CAT Innovation Summit, during the Hydrogen Week held at the Port of Tarragona. This day enabled the network to present to the renewable hydrogen sector the main collaborative projects being carried out by the research groups that make up the network.
The day was opened by Laia Arnal Arasa, Director General of Knowledge Transfer and Society of the Department of Research and Universities, together with Miriam Diaz de los Bernardos, Director of the H2CAT network. In the first part of the day, 5 successful examples of collaboration between research groups and companies were presented:
Jolt, successful spin-off from ICIQ
Catalytic solutions to boost the hydrogen economy
Dr. Alberto Bucci, CTO and co-founder of JOLT and researcher at ICIQ
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HACDOS, a URV project in consortium with the companies FACSA and ENAGAS and the Eurecat centre
Solar hydrogen generation from wastewater in cheap and scalable photocatalytic panels.
Dr. Monika Hapońska, researcher of the URV MEMTEC research group
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GO GASIFICACIÓ, Eurecat project in consortium with the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia and the companies NUFRI and BOSCAT
Use of by-products from the agri-food and biomass sectors as renewable energy sources through their treatment with thermochemical processes (pyrolysis and/or gasification)
Dr. Víctor Ortíz, researcher of the Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact Unit of Eurecat
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24/7 ZEN, an IREC project in consortium with the companies BOSAL and INERCO and other international partners
24/7 power supply with a demo covering the entire value chain, from material engineering for optimised cells and batteries to the reversible solid oxide cell system (r-SOC) and ways to control it after integration.
Dr. Marc Torrell, project leader and senior researcher at IREC
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H2ELIOS, a UPC project in consortium with Airbus Defence and Space and Aciturri and other international partners
Development of a lightweight, innovative and efficient LH2 storage system for aircraft that, once completed, can be ready to be integrated into the aircraft architecture for flight demonstrations at later stages.
Dr. Joaquim Rigola, researcher and promoter of the UPC Heat Transfer Technology Centre (CTTC)
Watch the video of the presentation
In the second part of the day, two round tables were organised around renewable hydrogen. A first round table on Technological challenges of the sector, with the participation of: Júlia Romeu, H2 for Mobility & H2 for Power Product Manager Southern Europe at Carburos Metálicos, Èric Navarrete, CTO of Nanochronia, URV spin-off, Elena Verdú, H2 & Synthetic Technology Manager at Repsol Technology Lab, Xavier Ribas, R&D Director at EVARM INNOVACION SL, and Laia Soler, Innovation Affairs at CELSA Group.
A second round table discussed the future of hydrogen technology on the 2050 horizon, with participants: Miriam Diaz de los Bernardos, director of the H2CAT network, Jaume Margarit, head of the sectorial energy programmes area of the Institut Català d’Energia (ICAEN), Guillermo Figueruelo, Head of the Strategic Area and Business Development of Fundación Hidrógeno Aragón, and Joaquim Daura i Ayza, President of the Clúster de l’Energia Eficient de Catalunya (CEEC) and Director of Active Energy Management at Schneider Electric.
The H2CAT network
The H2CAT network is an initiative coordinated by Eurecat in collaboration with the Catalan Institute of Chemical Research, the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the Rovira i Virgili University; and brings together the main Catalan research groups in the green hydrogen sector to carry out programmes of valorisation and transfer of research and development results in the renewable hydrogen value chain in Catalonia.
The H2CAT Innovation Summit was part of the programme of the “Catalunya Hydrogen Week” organised by the H2CAT Network together with APPORTT, the Hydrogen Valley, the Catalan Section of the European Association for Renewable Energies EUROSOLAR, ACCION- Generalitat de Catalunya with the collaboration of the Port of Tarragona and the Rovira i Virgili University, and that will be held from 9 to 17 November in the Tinglado 1 of the Muelle de Costa of the Port of Tarragona.
This programme is funded with the support of the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants and the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Below are some pictures from the day:
