HR4RS stamp
The IMDEA Energy institute, together with Bauhaus Luftfahrt e. V. and ETH Zürich, received the Energy Globe World Award 8 for one of its projects on November 2021. Entitled “SUNlight-to-LIQUID: Integrated solarthermochemical synthesis of liquid hydrocarbon fuels”, consists of demonstrating the feasibility of using solar energy to produce sustainable fuel from water and CO2. The proposal has won in the "Fire" category, focused on renewable energies, along with two other projects from Germany and Australia.
“SUN-to-LIQUID” had been in development for about five years as a collaborative effort between different European companies and institutions. Its main installation and demonstrations have taken place in Móstoles due to its great capacity. "Although this project is already finished, it is also being used to carry out other works and future proposals," says David Pedro Serrano Granados, professor of Chemical Engineering at the URJC and director of IMDEA Energy. He describes “SUN-to-LIQUID” as “very ambitious” and as a possible tool to make the transport industries (both maritime and air), one of the “hardest to decarbonize” sectors, more sustainable.
Before competing in the international category, this project has been nominated and won at the national level. It then obtained the National Energy Globe Award Spain 2021, for being the most outstanding environmental project in Spain.
International recognition
The Energy Globe World Awards were born in 1999, as a result of the initiative of the Austrian scientist Wolfgang Neumann. Since then, they have become an international benchmark for awards in relation to sustainability, with more than 180 participating countries in 2019. They are divided into different categories: the four essential elements (water, earth, fire and air), “youth” ( focused on promoting education and sustainable thinking for future generations) and the “start-ups”, which values emerging projects.
For IMDEA, an institute that was founded 15 years ago, gaining international recognition symbolizes a new stage. Although the center already had scientific achievements, receiving an award of such importance is a great boost for IMDEA to position itself at a global level. “Receiving this recognition, being a fairly young center with a staff of 120 people, is very important for us”, concludes David Pedro Serrano.