A Trinity professor has been awarded a European grant worth €150,000 to develop technologies aimed at mitigating the effects of the climate emergency.
Prof Wolfgang Schmitt, from Trinity’s School of Chemistry and the College’s Advanced Materials and Bio-engineering Research (AMBER) centre, was awarded the European Research Council’s (ERC) Proof of Concept grant, worth €150,000.
The award will be used to explore the commercial applications of a new advanced technology that facilitates efficient CO2 capture from air. The grant will allow Schmitt to develop a commercial, stand-alone prototype that will demonstrate the economic and ecological viability of this atmospheric CO2 capture approach.
Proof of Concept grants are awarded to ERC grant holders as top-up funding to explore the commercial or innovation potential of the results of their ERC-funded research. This recent funding is a top-up for a previous ERC grant of €2 million received by Schmitt in 2015 and brings his total research funding awarded in the last six years to over €4.5 million.
In a press statement, Schmitt said: “We are delighted to be awarded this ERC Proof of Concept grant, which allows us to take our technology to prototype level and commercialise it.”
He said that “it is highly satisfying to work on research projects of global impact tackling CO2 emissions”, and added that “the award allows us to collaborate with the commercial team of the spin-out company, Trinity Green Energies and our friend & co-inventor – Professor Don MacElroy Emeritus Professor, University College Dublin – who is an expert in experimental gas adsorption measurements, gas diffusion and process simulations”.
The technology could potentially lead to negative or net zero CO2 emissions, an attractive prospect in the face of global climate change.
Dr Sebastien Vaesen, the lead chemical engineer within the ERC projects and co-developer of the CO2 capture technology, said in a press statement: “We are delighted that the potential of our research results in the area of CO2 capture are recognised by this award.”
“The technology has the potential to facilitate the reduction of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions thus highlighting the potential impact and scalability of the proposed technology at European and global levels”, he added.
AMBER director Prof Michael Morris said in a press statement that “the award of this Proof of Concept grant to Professor Schmitt is particularly pleasing and an excellent acknowledgement of the world-leading research work being carried out by himself and the team of researchers he has assembled”.
Morris said Schmitt’s “studies are being undertaken to solve complex problems around the mitigation of climate change by absorption of CO2. It provides a route to develop practical solutions to ameliorate global warming and bring national and international environmental and societal benefits as well as economic development to Ireland”.
