Solar fuels, produced via solar driven CO2 and water conversion can contribute to drastically reducing GHG emissions and implement a man-made carbon-cycle complementing the natural-one, deploying the circular economy strategy. However, at present, significant improvement in the photocatalysts and reactor technology is required for solar fuels’ production to become technically feasible, scalable, affordable, secure, sustainable, and efficient. DESIRED is a high-risk high-return project, focused on establishing the technological feasibility and sustainability of a novel fuel production system – the DESIRED system – for direct coprocessing of, possibly atmospheric, CO2 and water to produce multi-carbon (C2+) energy-rich products using sunlight as primary energy source. The DESIRED system will produce C2+ solar fuels (without overlooking C1 species such as methanol or methane) by direct coprocessing of CO2 and water using novel and recyclable hybrid photo-electrocatalysts, supported on frustules or zeolites, in an innovative photoreactor design applying, for the first time, oscillatory flow principles, combined with direct light irradiation. With regards to applications, DESIRED will focus on products, which, by 2050, would be used per se or as intermediates to produce drop-in fuels for sectors where direct shift to batteries or H2 is not a technically and cost-efficient option (e.g. aviation). Knowledge of the economic affordability, environmental benefits, and social acceptability of this approach will be investigated. DESIRED promotes an interdisciplinary approach to research and innovation undertaken by a consortium of 7 European partners and complemented by cross-cutting activities including modelling, process simulation, sustainability, and techno-economic assessment as well as impactful dissemination, communication, capacity-building and exploitation activities that support the exchange of knowledge across and beyond the consortium and project.

Industry alone accounts for one-third of all the energy used globally and for almost 40% of worldwide CO2 emissions. Heat for Industrial Processes stands for 17% of the overall energy demand and for 69% of the industrial energy demand in the EU28 countries in 2013. Whereas available EE and RE technologies could supply a significant share of heat requirements in industry. Even when technological or non-technological barriers are removed, investment conditions still hold has a key barrier to a further market penetration and to a due exploitation of their market potential. Besides an insufficient awareness of technological solutions or lack of appropriate financial support measures, the main barriers to Process Heat Efficiency and Sustainability (PHES) investments are related to financing conditions: • end-user as own resources PHES but investments are regarded as having long payback; • end-user as limited own resources access to funding is difficult and limits investments. Acknowledging these facts, the main objective of TrustEE is the definition and implementation of a market-based financing model for PHES applications, gathering financial resources among a wide base of investors and assuring the investment capital for SME industries. TrustEE embodies an innovative approach to PHES financing, gathering the market expertise of end-users and technology providers on identifying specific projects matching objective economic viability criteria and providing them a securitization vehicle in combination with a project assessment platform as a financing tool embodying technical support and securitization measures ensuring: optimized investment conditions; reduction of risk; bypass restrictive criteria for SMEs financing conditions.

Shipping is responsible for the emission of about 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. The drastic reduction of GHG emissions from ships has been set as one of the urgent targets to achieve the EU Green deal objectives. As a result, the maritime industry, which is a hard-to-decarbonize sector, is actively seeking for alternate solutions/technology which can make it more climate friendly but at the same time does not compromise on the current performance levels. Leveraging novel concepts as well as assets from former projects and initiatives, the project FuelSOME focuses on establishing the technological feasibility of a flexible, scalable, and multi-fuel capable energy generation system based on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) technology specially catered for long-distance maritime shipping. This system will be able to operate on Ammonia, Methanol and Hydrogen and their mixtures for which short and long-term sustainable supply pathways will be explored. Finally, on a broader level, an in-depth and detailed investigation on the environmental, social, and economic benefits of developing such a system for the European industry, the maritime sector and the citizens will be carried out. The future roadmap of the project is that the outcomes generated will not only benefit the maritime industry but can also serve as a blueprint/launchpad for implementing the same technology in other hard to abate emission sectors and/or, thereby enabling multi-fuel energy generators to become the norm in the future. The consortium comprises 8 partners: 7 partners from 6 European Member States and 1 partner from a non-associated third country (Switzerland). The FuelSOME consortium unites the necessary multidisciplinary knowledge, expertise, skills, and resources to constitute a representative value chain of actors, which together can achieve the project’s ambitious objectives.