Driven by urgency
Scientific director Richard van de Sanden explained the strategy of the institute, which is motivated by the urgency to stay below 1,5 degrees of global warming. ‘EIRES collects and connects all energy research figureheads at this university and organizes research around icon systems defined together with industry and society.’ Focus area leaders John van der Schaaf, Henk Huinink, Lisanne Havinga and Marta Costa Figueiredo further elaborated on the contents of that strategy, what the research has focused on so far, and future plans. Their joint message was clear: ‘EIRES addresses the most urgent energy transition-related topics where technology can provide solutions, and seeks cross-sectoral collaborations to solve the problems of today and tomorrow. Anyone who feels connected to either four of the focus areas, is explicitly invited to join us.’
Extracting valuable minerals
After this introduction to the EIRES landscape, during a short break participants engaged in lively discussions with each other, for example on the exhibition floor where TU/e research and EIRES partners presented themselves. After the break, the floor was for Kerstin Eckert from the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf & TU Dresden. She discussed two of the topics her group focuses on and delivered the message that with the energy transition, we basically trade fossil fuels for other non-renewable resources like lithium, tin, copper and cobalt. ‘We are facing exhaustion of natural ore deposits, and an increasingly complex composition of the ores. The question thus becomes how to extract grams of valuable minerals from mining.’ That is where her group comes in, which studies novel technologies to extract fine grain raw materials, based on suspensions and bubble flow reactors.
Take up thermal energy
The second key note speaker of the day was Andreas Hauer from the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research, ZAE Bayern. He talked about what he called the sleeping giant of the energy transition: thermal energy. ‘The thermal energy sector accounts for over 50 percent of the energy demand and for over 50 percent of carbon emissions, so there is a lot to gain there,’ he said. One of the options that deserves more attention is efficiency improvement, he stated. ‘Especially in industry, there is a large potential for efficiency increase. In Germany alone, now spoiled waste heat from industry would be sufficient to supply in 45 percent of the German heating demand.’ Hauer ended his talk with a call to action: ‘It is technologically feasible to deliver heat at the right temperature at the right time, there are ample possibilities for using excess heat, and with the increasing gas prices, most of the solutions are becoming economically viable as well. So let’s act now.’
Positive perspective
With this message, the participants were sent off to lunch, after which André Faaij from TNO & Utrecht University & University of Groningen provided a clear, engaging and all in all rather positive overview of the complexity of the energy transition from a systems perspective. ‘Last summer, we had a 4 to 5 day shower in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany which caused damages worth 38 billion euros. The damages caused by climate change far exceed the mitigation costs. In addition, at the moment we are dealing with highly disturbed energy markets with record high prizes. So almost anything you can create in the energy transition is profitable. When I look at the energy transition, I see a huge innovation potential. And if we do it right, it is even possible to do the job without increasing the cost of the energy system.’
Lengthy look on catalysts
The final keynote speaker of the day was Beatriz Roldán Cuenya from the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. In an enthusing presentation she elucidated how catalyst materials change under reaction conditions. ‘The selectivity and the effectivity of electrochemical reactions is highly influenced by the surface of the catalyst. If you start with a perfect single crystal copper catalyst and you put it into your electrolyser, surface reconstructions will occur that change the selectivity of your reaction.’ In her lab, Roldán Cuenya has possibilities to image these changes during the electrochemical reactions. During her talk, she shared some of the insights she gained during her experiments. Based on these results, she argued that it is vital to look at catalysts at different length scales. ‘If you only look atomistically, a catalyst’s surface before and after the reaction might look the same. But on a mesoscopic scale they might have entirely different properties, leading to important and perhaps unwanted changes in the product distribution.’
Panel discussion
An interactive panel discussion rounded up the day. Under the inspiring guidance of roundtable host Barry W. Fitzgerald, Olaf Adan from Cellcius, Marius Ponten from VDL Groep, Andrea Ramirez Ramirez from TU Delft and Coen de Graaf from the province of Noord-Brabant discussed what is needed to turn the Brainport region into a Silicon Valley for energy, why there are no OEMs yet for electrolysers, whether we need to focus on technology development or rather on behavioral change, and how we can make sure the energy transition will not increase the gap between the rich and the poor. After a concluding inspirational song by TU/e researcher Auke Hoekstra, the energized participants had enough to talk about over the closing drinks.
Close
