With respect to the production of hydrogen, innovative processes, alternative to water and steam electrolysis (currently featuring a higher level of technological maturity), are considered, which in the future will be able to be used together with electrolysis to meet the growing demand for sustainable hydrogen (photoelectrocatalytic water splitting). In addition, innovative materials (ceramic membranes) will be developed for the extraction of hydrogen from biogas coming from biomass gasification.
 
The project contributes to the development and dissemination of hydrogen storage and transport technologies that enable the conversion of renewable electricity into green fuels to store energy in chemical form and to support the decarbonization of ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors (transport, heavy industry), which are to date still extremely dependent on fossil-derived fuels and are very difficult to decarbonize using other more efficient and affordable technologies. Specifically, the activity as a whole aims to develop and analyze different technologies to be integrated in different application contexts, as elements of the infrastructure necessary to “decouple” hydrogen production, in terms of time and location, from its use (geological storage, development of PtoG technologies).
 
Finally, the research aims to accelerate the penetration of hydrogen into the energy system, boosting its demand in the short term in applications supporting flexibility. Specifically, with reference to end uses, technology and process development activities are foreseen in relation to the flexible powering of cogenerative internal combustion engines fueled with natural gas-hydrogen mixtures.
 
The project uses specially designated laboratories and experimental facilities and fine-tuning of materials and prototypes and is supported by numerical-modeling activities through the use of computational tools developed by RSE.