LUMEN

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Two major challenges that we face as a society are securing our future energy supply by switching from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources, and reducing CO2 emissions. In LUMEN, knowledge institutions TNO, Hasselt University, IMEC and Zuyd Hogeschool want to tackle this issue jointly with SMEs/SMEs InnoSyn and EcoSynth by making use of sunlight as a sustainable energy source. Due to the fluctuations in the supply of energy from sustainable sources - after all the sun only shines during the day - a storage buffer will be needed for our future energy system. An example of such a storage buffer is hydrogen. The hydrogen making process already exists and is commercially available. However, hydrogen is problematic to use: large-scale storage is not safe, and we do not have a distribution system that is suitable for hydrogen. Construction of such a system is very expensive. Therefore, LUMEN will attempt to convert hydrogen with CO2 into natural gas (methane) or syngas. For this "photochemical" conversion, sunlight will directly serve as an energy source. The partnership will build a prototype on a lab scale to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the conversion. In addition, LUMEN wants to demonstrate that the developed concept can also be used to produce fine chemicals, such as intermediates for medicines, in a safer and easier way. With the conversion of CO2 to natural gas, syngas, and chemicals, the project aims at alternatives to current production from oil and a reduction in CO2 emissions in the region. Through active knowledge exchange, LUMEN will make companies, research institutions, universities and colleges in the region aware of the social and commercial importance of this concept. In this way it offers commercial opportunities for involved companies in the value chain: material producers, equipment producers and chemical companies in the region.

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