Italy

Hydrogen is currently enjoying a renewed and widespread momentum in many national and international climate strategies. This review paper is focused on analysing the challenges and opportunities that are related to green and blue hydrogen which are at the basis of different perspectives of a potential hydrogen society. While many governments and private companies are putting significant resources on the development of hydrogen technologie Read More

In this work copper oxides-based photocathodes for photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) were produced for the first time by screen printing. A total 7 × 10−3 g/m2 glycerine trioleate was found as optimum deflocculant amount to assure stable and homogeneous inks based on CuO nano-powder. The inks were formulated considering different binder amounts and deposited producing films with homogenous thickness microstructure and roughness. The as Read More

In the present work an Ir/CeO2 catalyst was prepared by the deposition–precipitation method and tested in the decomposition of hydrazine hydrate to hydrogen which is very important in the development of hydrogen storage materials for fuel cells. The catalyst was characterised using different techniques i.e. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with X-ray dete Read More

This study seeks to answer a simple question: will we have enough renewable electricity to meet all of the EU's decarbonisation objectives and if not what should be the priorities and how to address the remaining needs for energy towards carbon neutrality? Indeed if not the policy push for green hydrogen would not be covered by enough green electricity to match the “energy efficiency and electrification first” approach outlined in the system integra Read More

The actual safety margins of gas pipelines depend on a number of factors that include the mechanical characteristics of the material. The evolution with time of the metal properties can be evaluated by mechanical tests performed at different scales seeking for the best compromise between the simplicity of the experimental setup to be potentially employed in situ and the reliability of the results. Possible alternatives are comparatively assessed on pipeline Read More

The unbridled use of fossil fuels is a serious problem that has become increasingly evident over the years. As such fuels contribute considerably to environmental pollution there is a need to find new sustainable sources of energy with low emissions of greenhouse gases. Climate change poses a substantial challenge for the scientific community. Thus the use of renewable energy through technologies that offer maximum efficiency with min Read More

Secondary streams in biorefineries need to be valorized to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the plants. Representative model compounds of the water fraction from the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of biomass were subjected to aqueous phase reforming (APR) to produce hydrogen. Carboxylic and bicarboxylic acids hydroxyacids alcohols cycloketones and aromatics were identified as model compounds and tested fo Read More

This study evaluates the environmental profile of a real biomass-based hydrogen production small-scale (1 MWth) system composed of catalytic candle indirectly heated steam gasifier coupled with zinc oxide (ZnO) guard bed water gas shift (WGS) and pressure swing absorber (PSA) reactors. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was investigated by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Biomass production shows high influence over all i Read More

Magnesium alloys have been widely studied as materials for temporary implants but their use has been limited by their corrosion rate. Recently coatings have been proven to provide an effective barrier. Though only little explored in the field Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) stands out as a coating technology due to the outstanding film conformality and density achievable. Here we provide first insights into the corrosion behavior and the induced biological resp Read More

The use of fossil fuels as an energy supply becomes increasingly problematic from the point of view of both environmental emissions and energy sustainability. As an alternative hydrogen is widely regarded as a key element for a potential energy solution. However differently from fossil fuels such as oil gas and coal the production of hydrogen requires energy. Alternative and intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar power wind power Read More