About CNR-ITAE:
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Council of Research – CNR, Italy, http://www.cnr.it), is a public research organisation; its duties are to carry out, promote, spread, transfer and improve research activities in the main sectors of knowledge growth and the application of this research for the scientific, technological, economic and social development of the country. The scientific network of the National Research Council of Italy consists of more than 100 Institutes, divided into 7 Departments. The Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies “Nicola Giordano” (ITAE), headquartered in Messina, operates within the Department of “Engineering, ICT and Energy and Transport Technologies”, being one out of a total of 21 research institutes grouped according to similar competencies and strategic priorities of the reference macro-area. ITAE develops and promotes energy-efficient, innovative technologies with low environmental impact through the use of fossil and renewable energy sources. The scientific expertise of ITAE is related to developing and optimising materials and chimica/technological processes for producing electric and/or thermal energy along with new fuels with specific reference to hydrogen. Approx. 100 people are employed at ITAE.
CNR-ITAE role in Andreah
Within the ANDREAH project, CNR-ITAE will lead the WP3 “Key components development and scale up”. CNR-ITAE is also responsible for developing new catalysts (CRMs free or with a reduced amount of CRMs) for ammonia decomposition, based on perovskites structure and capable of operating at low temperatures (400-450°C). The Team is also involved in the developing of structured catalysts with improved heat and mass transfer, based on Open-Cell Foams (OCFs) and 3D printed Periodic Open Cell Structures (POCSs). Specifically, CNR-ITAE will work on the activation of the supports, with novel catalytic materials, with the aim to reach a detailed rationalization of the adopted procedures. Different structured catalysts configuration concepts (coated and packed structured catalysts) for the integration with selective hydrogen membranes in a membrane reactor system will be investigated. The activities will help to generate a deep understanding of the underlying principles of the geometry-transport interactions and to define how the properties of the structured catalysts may determine advancement in the ammonia dehydrogenation process. Finally CNR-ITAE will collaborate with UMICORE, to develop an efficient scale-up strategy capable of ensuring the necessary quantity of catalyst to prepare structured catalysts and validate the ANDREAH membrane reactor technology at the demonstrator scale.
Website: http://www.itae.cnr.it
