FREE-METHANE: a project for producing fuel from waste CO2 using renewable energies

Abstract

In this paper we illustrate the Free-methane (Fuel from RenewablE Energies – methane) proposal submitted to the Horizon 2020 Call H2020-LCE-2016-2017 (COMPETITIVE LOW-CARBON ENERGY) as a Research and Innovation Action (Proposal number: 763936-1) for the first step of a two-stage process. The project is aimed at building a solid background for the assembling of a novel apparatus using renewable energies to produce carbon neutral fuels through a chemical catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide waste flue gases. The first operational line of the proposal is the theoretical, computational and experimental treatment of elementary reactive and non-reactive molecular processes on which the project is grounded. The second operational line of the proposal is the designing and fabricating the technological components of the proposed apparatus. The project will lead to the production of three basic innovative components of the apparatus: a new electrolyser and two highly efficient reactors producing methane and its clathrate hydrates.