VITO: Sustainable Chemistry

General expertise of the research group

VITO is a leading European independent research/consultancy centre in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the grand societal challenges of tomorrow: climate change, food security, a sustainable energy supply, the ageing population and scarcity of resources. The business unit of Separation and Conversion Technology is composed of >100 researchers, managers, support staff and students and has organized its strategic research program around the theme ‘Sustainable Chemistry’ with special focus on (1) process intensification through the integration of separation processes with chemical, microbial, enzymatic or bio-electrochemical conversion processes, and (2) the use of alternative feedstocks, such as CO2.

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Integration of reaction technology (bio, electrochemical) and separation technologies
• Expertise in alkaline and PEM fuel cell development and testing
• Development of low cost and efficient electrodes and membranes
• The gas diffusion electrodes to be used as air cathodes in MFCs are considered as the state-of- theart and are currently being optimized for CO2 conversion processesActivities in the electrosynthesis field with projects on conversion of CO2 to ethanol, methanol, formic acid and conversion of acids to alcohols and production of ionic liquids.
• Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of the hydrogen value chain.
• Energy system modelling, long-term system scenario modelling (2030-2050)

Available equipment/tools:

• 3 laboratory test stands
  • Single cell/small stack
  • Operational ranges
  • 15 bar, 90°C
  • 35 bar, 90°C
  • 15 bar, 70°C
  • Labview
  • Sensoring Pressure,Temp,Q_flows
  •  Gas quality (HTO, Gas Chromatography…)
  • Electrochemical characterization (I-V,EIS)
• Demo setup
  • Up to 3 kW
  • Design range: 50 bar, 90°C
  • PLC based
  •  Sensoring P,T,Q,HTO…
  • GC/EIS
• Durability test benches
  • Parallel 2×2 cm testing of 5 samples
  • 10 bar, 80°C- 120°C
• Ex-situ tools for membrane characterization
• Water permeability (via Water filtration unit)
• IEC measurement (via titration)
• Capillary Flow Porometry (CFP) (via Porolux) to determine:
• First Bubble Point (FBP), Smallest pore size (SP), Mean Flow Pore diameter (MFP), Gas permeability (GP)
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Hg porosimetry measurements
• Thermogravimetric analysis
• Tensile strength measurements

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research:

• Bac-To-Fuel, Bacterial conversion of CO2 and renewable H2 into biofuels, H2020 Project ID: 825999
• BIORECO2VER, Biological routes for CO2 conversion into chemical building blocks, H2020 Project ID: 760431
• LOTER.CO2M, CRM-free low temperature electrochemical reduction of CO2 to methanol, H2020 Project ID 761093-2
• PERFORM, PowerPlatform: Establishment of platform infrastructure for highly selective electrochemical conversions, H2020 Project ID : 820723
• CATCO2RE, Conversion of solar energy and CO2 to chemicals and fuels, FWO, VITO/UGent/KUL/VUB
• CO2PERATE, The catalytic conversion of CO2 to formic acid, Cluster SBO, VITO/UGent/KUL/UA/BEPP
• PROCURA, Power to X and carbon capture and utilization roadmap for Belgium, ETF, VITO/IMEC/Waterstofnet/KUL/VUB/University of Liège
• BREGILAB, Investigation of the practical realisation of further expansion of renewable electricity sources in Belgium, ETF, VITO/KUL/UHasselt/IMEC/KMI
• E2C Interreg Project: Electrons to high value Chemical products
• ELYINTEGRATION Horizon 2020 project “Grid integrated multi megawatt high pressure alkaline electrolysers for energy applications”, FCH Initiative.
• REselyser FP7 Project “Hydrogen from RES: pressurised alkaline electrolyser with high efficiency”, FCH Initiative
• H2-MHytic – VLAIO SBO: H2 BY MEMBRANE INTEGRATED HIGH SURFACE AREA NANOMESH TECHNOLOGY (VITO, Imec and Ghent University)

Main relevant publications

1. Sánchez, O.G.*, Birdja, Y.Y.*, Bulut, M., Vaes, J., Breugelmans, T. and Pant, D, Recent advances in industrial CO2 electroreduction. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 2019, 16, 47-56.
2. König, M., Vaes, J., Klemm, E. and Pant, D., Solvents and Supporting Electrolytes in the Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2. iScience, 2019, 19, p.135.
3. Doyen, W., Alvarez Gallego, Y., Stoops, L., Molenbergh, B., Reissner, R., Schiller, G., Guelzow, E., Vaes,
4. J. and Bowen, J.R., 2014. The e-bypass separator: the solution to the inherent problem of alkaline water electrolysis under challenging working conditions. 2014 Membrane Symposium, 08. Sept. 2014, Aachen, Deutschland.
5. König, M, Bulut, M., Vaes, J., Klemm, E., Pant, D. 2019. Electrochemical CO2 conversion. EU patent EP19213008.
6. Prato, R.A., Van Vught, V., Eggermont, S., Pozo, G., Marin, P., Fransaer, J. and Dominguez-Benetton, X., 2019. Gas Diffusion Electrodes on the Electrosynthesis of Controllable Iron Oxide Nanoparticles. Scientific reports, 9(1), pp.1-11.
7. Van Dael, M., Kreps, S., Virag, A., Kessels, K., Remans K., Thomas, D., and De Wilde, F., 2018, Technoeconomic assessment of a microbial power-to-gas plant – case study in Belgium, Applied Energy, 2015, pp.416-425