The project has studied and developed energy systems and technologies that introduce innovation in those sectors that can contribute incisively to the containment of greenhouse gas emissions, ie energy efficiency / savings, renewable sources and CCS (carbon capture and storage) systems, in line with the international mitigation scenarios envisaged by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The project was articulated on three construction goals that involved the development of innovative systems, processes and technologies for: i) energy recovery from industrial wastewater with plasma torch gasification for the production of syngas with a high hydrogen content to be used as fuel, energy conversion systems; ii) the concentration / separation of CO2 through MCFC fuel cell technology and its use for the production of synthetic fuels (SNG, methanol, etc.); iii) the “bio-capture” of CO2 from gas mixtures using enzymes from moderate thermophilic microorganisms and its use for the intensive cultivation of microalgae to be used for the production of bio-fuels (vegetable oils).

In detail, therefore, starting from the gasification of industrial wastewater with plasma torch technology, the produced syngas is used to feed both an MCI and the anodic compartment of a stack of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), while the compartment cathode is fed with the fumes coming from conversion plants fed with fossil fuels or with the fumes coming from the internal combustion engine fed to syngas. Moreover, by using the MCFC it is possible to achieve the concentration of CO2 in the exhausted anodic. The research activity focused on the production of liquid biomethane starting from the treatment of raw biogas produced with anaerobic digestion of biomass originating from domestic, industrial and agro-forestry waste.

To maximize the production of raw biogas, a biomass pre-treatment system is proposed by using enzymes capable of promoting the degradation of recalcitrant substances and through this path increase the methane content in biogas. .