About Leonardo Roses
Dr. Leonardo Roses works as a project manager and specialist engineer at HyGear since 2013. He holds a PhD in Energy and Nuclear Science and Technology from Politecnico di Milano (Italy). He has experience in managing international high tech development projects in FP7, H2020, FCH-JU, and HORIZON EUROPE involving process intensification of different industrial challenges such as hydrocarbon upgrading, gas purification, production of hydrogen, ethylene, gas-to-liquid solutions and CHP systems. He is currently managing EU-R&D projects KEROGREEN, EPISTORE, MEMBER, STORMING, ERETECH, alongside other commercial projects.
Role in the project: member of HyGear, project partner
1-HyGear is one of the three SMEs part of KEROGREEN. What is the core activity of the company and how does it match with your role in the project?
HyGear is a gas supplier specialised in on-site production and purification of industrial gas. Its key areas of competence include hydrogen, renewable natural gas, oxygen, nitrogen, and specialised gas purification. HyGear is already the leader in on-site hydrogen production by SMR in the capacity range matching its Hy.GEN systems. Moreover it is increasingly strengthening its footprint in the field of on-site purification systems, where the technology developed in KEROGREEN will contribute. With its experience built along KEROGREEN, HyGear wants to expand its portfolio with on-site CO purification systems, which is a key component in the Power-to-Kerosene process addressed in the project.
2-The project comes now to its end. What are the main results achieved so far by HyGear?
Along the project, HyGear had the opportunity to design, assemble, and test a stand-along CO purifier capable of upgrading CO/CO2 mixtures into high-grade CO at very low operational costs. Moreover HyGear’s involvement in the development of the oxygen separation module were very important in the development of ad-hoc electrochemical purification solutions.
3-Which benefits do you see for HyGear?
In the short to medium term, the benefits for HyGear will be mainly those of supply of small to medium scale purification units, accompanying the growth of KEROGREEN technology in the years to come. Moreover, the stand-alone purification systems will be proposed for other applications where carbon monoxide should be upgraded for industrial and chemical sector. In the long term, HyGear could license its technology to partners who could exploit the market at scales beyond the scope of HyGear’s modular units.
4-How does your work contribute to improve performance and reduce cost of industrial gas purification systems?
Our work in KEROGREEN has expanded the knowledge on the capabilities and limitations of Pressure Swing Adsorption technology for purification of carbon monoxide. In particular, the most relevant aspect to research was where the limitations arise, and what were the solutions to jump over those hurdles. The outcome of investment during several months of research remain IP of HyGear which will be materialised in the coming years.
5-Are you thinking on follow-up activities directly linked to your work within the project?
Together with the project partners we are evaluating potential follow-up activities, although with a somewhat different angle in some specific steps of the process chain. In the next months we will continue to look into how to shape the roadmap ahead.
6-What is your feeling about the overall project achievement?
The achievements in the project as a whole are remarkable, if you look at the complete range of technologies which were covered in KEROGREEN. As we reach the end of the timeline of the project we realise that not all the individual steps reached the necessary performance for the complete integration into the process chain. However this by far does not undermine the other many notable accomplishments from the past four years of development. Rather than leaving a sour feeling of not having reached by 100 % the original targets, we are left with the desire to find new and better solutions to the challenges unveiled during this project.
Many thanks for the interview. Wish you a lot of success for your ongoing and upcoming projects!
