Solar Heated Reactor Design

Thermochemical processes, particularly hydrothermal ones, are energy intensive, mainly due to the heat required to reach the required operation temperatures. In some cases, energy requirements exceed the energy that can be obtained from the fuels produced, making the process energetically not feasible. In this respect, Dr. Arcelus-Arrillaga established a strong multidisciplinary collaboration network with experts in solar heating from the Instituto de Energías Renovables UNAM and the Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica CIO in Mexico to develop solar heated thermochemical reaction systems. Current research efforts focus on the development of solar heated high pressure reactors to transform biomass into biofuel in hydrothermal conditions. Excellent results have been achieved proving the feasibility of the proposal and setting the conditions to further the technology to continuous operation. 

The latest research output can be accesed here.

Energy and Exergy Efficiency Optimization

One great sustainability challenge for industrial processes is energy efficiency. In this respect using exergy efficieny and energy efficiency indicators allows the researcher to optimise chemical processes from an energy perspective and is a very powerful tool when developing LCA and process sustainability assessments. In this respect, an exergy efficiency assessment provides the maximum amount of work that can be obtained from the available energy in a chemical process refered to environmental conditions as reference. This is extremely useful as it helps to optimise a process in order to make the most out of the available useful energy. This research line focuses in developimg a robust methodology to study and optimize thermochemical processes to transform biomass and organic waste into biofuels. This line features a current strong collaboration with Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and involves the participation of a PhD student. Promising results are being obtained, showing that exergy efficiency analysis is a powerful tool for process optimization and can play a significant role in the introduction of biofuels from thermochemical processes into the energy market.

AI and Machine Learning Aided Thermochemical Fuel Production

Digitalization strategies for scientific research is an area that is catching the attention of the scientific community and is developing fast due to its great potential. This research line is the most recent development in Dr. Arcelus-Arrillaga research into thermochemical processing of unconventional resources and is the pillar of the Momentum Project MMT24-ICB-01 "Development of sustainable aviation biofuels with the aid of machine learning and artificial intelligence" at ICB-CSIC. The aim is to optimize research into the development of thermochemical processes to produce sustainable aviation fuel with the aid of AI and machine learning models. The research approach is to combine experimental research to generate data for the development and training of the model with first principle models to optimise the processes and enable its prediction and fine tuning with limited knowledge of feedstock composition, product characteristics or target reaction conditions. We believe this research will be a turning point in research into thermochemical processing of biofuels. This research is also part of a strong collaboration between Instituto de Carboquímica CSIC (Fuel Conversion Group) and Dr. Elias Martinez from the Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo IMP.

To know more of the Momentum Project press here.