Naturgy Foundation awards the Research and Technology Innovation Prize in the field of energy to a project for CO2 capture and reduction by the Bioeconomics Institute at the University of Valladolid.
The winning project in the first edition of this award, which was evaluated by a scientific committee coordinated by the Spanish National Research Council, puts forward innovative technology in the processes for capturing and reducing CO₂.
A project by the Bioeconomics Institute at the University of Valladolid (IB-UVA) on CO2 capture and reduction was the winner of the 1st Edition of the Research and Technology Innovation Prize in the field of energy granted by the Naturgy Foundation, with support and collaboration from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The winning submission, headed up by lead researcher Ángel Marín Martínez, puts forward innovative technology in the field of processes for capturing and reducing CO2.
The “CO2UP project: Scaling up hydrothermal reduction of CO₂ using biomass as a reducer on CO₂ evaluation”, will receive an endowment of €100,000, which will enable the research team to design, build and operate a pilot plant that increases the technology’s development level to TRL=5. The researchers will, in this way, be able to implement innovative technology in the field of CO₂ capture and reduction processes, replacing the regeneration of an adsorbent/absorbent with a hydrothermal CO₂ reduction process, using compounds obtained from the biomass as reducing agents.
The prize was awarded today, in Madrid, at a ceremony where the chairman of the Naturgy Foundation, Rafael Villaseca, stated that, with this new initiative, “Naturgy Foundation demonstrates, once again, its commitment to the development of actions directed at accelerating energy transition, as it will enable research and scientific development in the field of energy in Spain to be boosted, with full guarantees of success”.
For her part, Eloisa del Pino, the chairwoman of the CSIC, asserted that “the prize is also proof of the commitment shared by the Naturgy Foundation and Spanish National Research Council to support advanced research focussing on a new economic model centred on renewable energy production, decarbonisation and low greenhouse gas emissions”.
The panel pointed out the originality of the submission from the Bioeconomics Institute at the University of Valladolid, whose results, obtained at laboratory level, indicate that they have reached sufficient development to address the concept test successfully. This will consist of a scale development of a pilot plant during the two years the project will last. The panel also emphasised the abilities and proven experience of the group in CO₂ reduction processes, which assure proper execution of the project.
Almost twenty candidates
In its first edition, the call for the award attracted 18 eligible submissions developed by 11 universities, 5 research institutes and 2 not-for-profit foundations, based in 9 autonomous regional communities. The submissions were assessed by a scientific committee, coordinated by the CSIC and a panel of experts.
The other five finalist candidacies were submitted by research groups from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya Foundation (FUOC), Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Research (IMEDEA-UIB-CSIC), Catalan Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute (ICN2-CSIC), Catalysis and Petrochemical Institute (IPC-CSIC) and University of Salamanca (USAL).
The panel acknowledged that all of them had a high level of innovation along with the quality of the submissions presented, which addressed matters of interest such as energy efficiency and its calculations, CO₂ evaluation, renewable energy and electrocatalysis.
The award panel, chaired by Eloisa del Pino, comprised Maria Benjumea, founder of Spain Startup and the International Women Forum Spain, Mariano Marzo, professor emeritus at the Universitat de Barcelona and director of the Chair for Energy Transition at the UB, Diego Pavia, founder and CEO of KIC InnoEnergy, Jorge Barredo, director general of Renewable energy, New Business and Innovation at Naturgy, and Maria Eugenia Coronado, director general of the Naturgy Foundation.
Boosting scientific development in the energy field
The Naturgy Foundation launched the first edition of the Naturgy Foundation Prize for Technology Research and Innovation in the energy field on 1 February with the aim of promoting projects, within the energy transition framework, that contribute to achieving the decarbonisation targets in Spain.
The initiative is aimed at projects developed by public, private or non-profit research bodies, including public and private universities (registered at the Universities, Schools and Titles Registry) and other R&D&I centres. In addition, they must be groups that carry out fundamental research or experimental development, and also have their own legal personality and tax residence in Spain.
The candidates taking part must be unpublished projects, for research in progress or recently completed, and with an innovative potential liable to be incorporated into the market or generate value for society.
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