Key activities
ELECTROCHEMICAL CO2 CONVERSION
ELCAT with professor Breugelmans in the lead is investing a lot of time and effort in the electrochemical CO2 conversion to specific products, including formate/formic acid, carbon monoxide, methanol and ethylene. When utilizing renewable energy, this approach could potentially result in decreased CO2 emissions to the atmosphere highlighting the green chemistry aspect of the research at ELCAT. With the electrochemical CO2 conversion branch, ELCAT performs research from the fundamental (electrocatalyst and electrode development, mass transfer visualization and optimization, etc.) to the applied level (reactor engineering and fabrication, up-scaling, stacking, etc.).
GREEN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
In the field of green hydrogen production the ELCAT research group mainly focuses on the development of novel, 3D electrodes to improve the hydrodynamics and mass transfer within water electrolyzers. Besides for the electrode development, ELCAT is also actively looking into understanding and optimizing noble metal-free oxygen and hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts.
REDOX FLOW BATTERIES
With professor Hereijgers in the lead, ELCAT is also highly active in the field of redox flow batteries. Within this domain, the main aim is to develop innovations with respect to electrochemical engineering with a strong focus on the design, development and fabrication of novel 3D flow fields and electrodes. An important aspect, here is to improve both current and electrolyte distribution throughout the battery and as such improve its efficiency.
POWER-TO-CHEMICALS
Besides green hydrogen production and CO2 reduction, ELCAT is also actively developing other electrochemical conversions to replace current traditional industrial approaches in an attempt to further electrify the industry and as such make it more sustainable. In this respect, ELCAT is looking into the production of ammonia, conversion of biomass, etc. and this from a more fundamental approach.
ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR (ELECTRO)CHEMICAL APPLICATIONS
Finally, given ELCAT’s main expertise is in the field of (electrochemical) reactor design, we also offer our engineering services to industry to develop novel reactor designs that are specifically tailored to the industries needs. For this purpose, ELCAT can count on a broad range of engineering equipment (milling machine, 3D printers, laser micromachining, etc.).