UAntwerpen: Department of Bioscience Engineering: Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology Group (DuEL) / Blue App: ElectrifHy

General expertise of the research group

The Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology Group (DuEL) focuses on several research areas of societal relevance: (1) Hydrogen technology, (2) purification technologies for various side and waste streams, (3) solar energy utilisation, and (4) microbial cleantech. Concerning hydrogen, DuEL focusses on (i) the production of H2 from abundant sources (e.g. seawater) or waste streams using light and sustainably produced electricity as primary energy inputs, (ii) design of innovative photo-electrolysers, (iii) characterisation of H2 carriers (thermal and chemical stability, kinetics, catalyst design), (iv) design of chemical reactors for the storage and release of H2 to and from liquid and solid carriers, following process intensification. The latter two topics are developed in close connection to Blue App (at ElectrifHy), whose scope includes the design, simulation (including CFD code development for multiphase turbulent reacting slows), prototyping, experimental characterization and scale-up of intensified reactors. The team can count on a lot of experience in fluidization, various reactors (from 3 to 10 cm ID), including a pre-pilot electrothermal fluidized bed reactors available for testing and validation. At the Blue App building, world class laboratories  re available, including a 3-story high pilot hall.

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Gas phase analysis of H2 release reactions.
• Evaluation of innovative H2 production pathways (e.g. seawater splitting, H2 recovery from aqueous and gaseous waste streams).
• Solar-responsive catalysts for direct photo(electro)chemical hydrogen evolution.
• Development of innovative photo-electrolyzers, focused on membraneless designs
• Process simulations and CFD-assisted reactor design and optimization simulations
• Design of electrically assisted chemical carriers (e.g., ammonia) cracking reactors
• Design of dehydrogenation units for liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC)
• Test rig for LOHC (up to 250 lpm)
• Design of dense Pd-Ag supported membranes for H2 removal from reactors
• Pre-pilot electrothermal fluidized bed designed for the pyrolysis of methane into H2
• Design, simulation, and experimental validation of e-reactors
• Coke-resistant catalysts for biogas (CH4 and CO2) to syngas applications

Available equipment/tools:

• 10 cm ID electrothermal fluidized bed coupled to an online RGA GC
• Up to 250 lpm LOHC test rig
• Various inductively- and resistively heated reactors fully instrumented
• Various inductively- and resistively heated fluidized bed reactors (up to 100 bar), fully instrumented, including highly sensitive pressure transducers for indirect reactor diagnostic
• Various Sieverts (volumetric) apparatus for the characterization of adsorbents, using highly sensitive pressure transducers, coupled to -50-200 °C cryostats
• Simulated moving bed (SMB) with inductively heated thermal swing section for adsorption processes
• Quadrupole mass spectrometer for transient gas analysis
• Refinery gas GC analyser for steady state gas analysis
• Particle image velocimetry system (LED and laser) for non-intrusive fluid flow characterization
• GC with pulsed-discharge detector for low level H2 measurements
• Fully automized gas testing setup
• Potentiostat
• Stereolithographic 3D printer for in-house reactor printing

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

• ‘CAMELEON’: Electrified catalytic non-oxidative methane coupling for separated hydrogen and ethylene production (2024-2028). VLAIO Moonshot cSBO project (2017-2024). Collaboration with LCT (UGent), and STEN (Ugent)
• Cracking of green ammonia to hydrogen using innovative catalyst and adsorbent assisted plasma technology (HYPACT) (2022-2025). FOD Economie. Federal Government of Belgium. Collaboration with COK-KAT (KULeuven), and PLASMANT (UAntwerp).
• Electrical Cracking of Ammonia for Hydrogen Production (AMELEC) (2024-2025). UAntwerp’s industrial valorization funds (IOF SBO) Research Grant. Supported by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
• “Design of innovative reactors for the release of hydrogen from chemical carriers such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers” (2023-2024). UAntwerp’s industrial valorization funds (IOF SBO) Research Grant. Supported by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
• Arclath’ 1 and 2 projects on the storage of hydrogen in hydrate clathrates. VLAIO Moonshot cSBO projects (2017-2024). Collaboration with COK-KAT (KULeuven), Comoc (Ugent), Center for Molecular Modelling (Ugent), STEPChem (VUB), and LADCA (UAntwerp)
• “Design of innovative reactors for the release of hydrogen from chemical carriers such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers” (2023-2024). UAntwerp’s industrial valorization funds (IOF SBO) Research Grant. Supported by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
• “Electrified chemical reactor for fast release of hydrogen (H2) from liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) for generator set (genset). H2 genset testing on a ship (Port of Future)” (2019-2020). UAntwerp’s industrial valorization funds (IOF SBO) Research Grant. Supported by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
• BOF DOCPRO4 PhD Fellowship, “CFD-Assisted Design of an Innovative Multiphase Chemical Reactor for Hydrogen Release.”
• “Photoelectrochemical abatement of methane waste with simultaneous energy recovery”. FWO PhD Fellowhip
• “Solar hydrogen production from seawater using stabilized plasmonic photocatalysts”. FWO PhD Fellowhip
• “In-line quantization of the hydrogen gas yield from photoelectrochemical treatment of volatile organic compounds”. FWO Research Grant
• “Membraneless photo-electrolyzer for solar hydrogen production” (2023-2026) FWO Postdoctoral Fellowship
• (Photo)electrolyzer for pure hydrogen gas production in flow. (2022-2024) UAntwerp industrial valorization fund (IOF) Create Proof of Concept Grant.
• “A 1kW membraneless electrolyzer demonstrator for pure green hydrogen gas production in flow.” (2023-2025) UAntwerp industrial valorization fund (IOF) Develop Proof of Concept Grant.

International collaborations:

• Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, Germany.
• Various spin-offs in the direct air capture, energy generation and CCS sector.

Main relevant publications

1. Challenges in the use of hydrogen for maritime applications (2021). L Van Hoecke, L Laffineur, R Campe, P Perreault, et al. Energy & Environmental Science 14 (2), 815-843
2. Combined Methane Pyrolysis and Solid Carbon Gasification for Electrified CO2-Free Hydrogen and Syngas Production (2023). P Perreault, CR Boruntea, et al. Energies 16 (21), 7316
3. Intensified swirling reactor for the dehydrogenation of LOHC (2023). L Van Hoecke, NB Kummamuru, et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
4. Critical challenges towards the commercial rollouts of a LOHC-based H2 economy (2023). P Perreault, L Van Hoecke, et al. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 100836
5. Hydrogen clathrates: Next generation hydrogen storage materials (2021). A Gupta, GV Baron, P Perreault, et al. Energy Storage Materials 41, 69-107
6. Harvesting Hydrogen Gas from Air Pollutants with an Unbiased Gas Phase Photoelectrochemical cell (2017). S.W. Verbruggen, M. Van Hal, T. Bosserez, J. Rongé, B. Hauchecorne, J.A. Martens, S. Lenaerts. ChemSusChem 10, 1413-1418
7. Tapping Hydrogen Fuel from the Ocean: a Review on Photocatalytic, Photoelectrochemical and Electrolytic Splitting of Seawater (2021). F. Dingenen, S.W. Verbruggen. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 142, 110866