Foto: Statsministeriet.

EU President-elect and Prime Minister of Denmark visit DTU

Energy storage Fossil fuels Catalysis CO2 separation and CO2 storage

Carbon-neutral energy production and sustainable fuels were among the topics discussed during a visit to DTU from President-elect Charles Michel and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

 

The European Council President-elect Charles Michel and the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen met on Friday, November 22, to discuss the grand challenges facing the European countries. E.g., subjects like climate change, migration, tax evasion, and social dumping.

In conjunction with the meeting, they visited DTU for a presentation and a tour of the labs of one of the university’s research projects into sustainable fuels. A main topic of their meeting being how to tackle climate change and make fundamental changes to the European energy system.

The delegation was greeted by DTU President Anders Bjarklev and given a general presentation to the challenges of energy conversion and CO2-neutral fuels as well as an introduction to the Energy-X research project by Professor Jens Kehlet Nørskov and Associate Professor Karen Chan (DTU Physics).

Energy-X is a Horizon 2020-project that was kicked-off in March 2019. To prepare for future large EU initiatives within energy research it will mobilize European researchers and industry, in order to build a strategic roadmap towards a large-scale research initiative addressing the efficient conversion of solar and wind energy into chemical form.

The goal is to gather knowledge, technologies, and expertise from all over Europe to overcome the final challenges of achieving efficient energy conversion. Three central chemical processes for converting water, CO2, and N2 to fuels and base chemicals are the scientific targets.

From there, the delegation went down to the catalysis laboratories, where Professor Ib Chorkendorff from DTU Physics and two students talked about their work on developing new catalysts that can help create e.g. sustainable chemicals, plastic products and fertilizers based on solar and wind energy.

Foto: Statsministeriet.

Foto: DTU

 

About Energy-X

  • Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, kicked-off on March 4th, 2019, in Prague.
  • Includes 13 partners across Europe (Technical University of Denmark, Max Planck Society, Ghent University, Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences, CEA, Czech Academy of Sciences, Utrecht University, ERIC aisbl, ETH Zürich, RWI, Technical University of Valencia, DECHEMA, and EERA aisbl), and is supported by a large group of industrial companies.
  • Brings together an interdisciplinary academic research (chemistry, physics, engineering, economics and social science) with cross-industrial technological expertise (chemistry, engineering, utilities, mobility, agriculture) to provide a platform for future chemical energy conversion technology in Europe.
  • Will consolidate and enhance the global leadership role of the European energy and chemical industry, benefitting job creation and sustainable growth in the EU.
  • Project coordinator is Villum Kann Rasmussen Professor Jens Kehlet Nørskov, DTU Physics.

Source: Energy-X.