Through international engagement, the Danish Council for Strategic Research has awarded two new projects within energy research. The council has granted 10 million DKK to two Danish- Korean collaborations, which are to develop new technologies for a better usage of biomass and better and cheaper parts for fuel cells.
Description of the two awarded projects ‘BioCap’ and ‘KDFuelCell’ can be found further down.
This year, the Danish Council for Strategic Research has had its first joint bilateral call with Korea. The Danish Council for Strategic Research has granted two projects worth a total of 10 million DKK, with corresponding funding in Korea. The projects have been awarded in collaboration with the Korean partner Green Technology Center – Korea (GTC - K). One project focuses on better exploitation of biomass for biogas production, while the other focuses on the development of better and cheaper parts for fuel cells.
”The interest for this first Danish-Korean call has been considerable, which suggests that it is important with research funding in this area, and that there is a breeding ground for strong collaborations between Danish and Korean researchers,” says the Chairman of the Danish Council for Strategic Research’s Programme Commission on Sustainable Energy and Environment, Professor Poul Erik Morthorst from the Technical University of Denmark. ”We have received a number of strategically interesting and strong applications, but unfortunately, we can only award grants to two proposals. Prospectively, we hope that these proposals open doors for more and better collaboration between Denmark and Korea.”
The two granted proposals are based on two different branches of energy research, but what they do have in common is that the researchers seek to enhance the economical profitability of different energy technologies: biomass and fuel cells, respectively. Furthermore, both proposals are based in strong research environments in Denmark and Korea, and through these projects, Danish and Korean researchers can strengthen the bilateral collaborations and thereby enhance synergies to benefit both Denmark and Korea.
This call has been the first joint call between Denmark and Korea within the area of renewable energy, and on the basis of the experience from this call, it is expected that a new call will follow in 2014.
BioCap - Bioenergy production from residual biomass through a novel integrated carbon chain pathway (3047-00006B)
Danish title: BioCap - Biogas produktion fra rest-biomasser (3047-00006B)
Grant holder: Birgir Norddahl, Department of Chemical Eng., Biotechnology and Environmental Tech, University of Southern Denmark
E-mail: bno@kbm.sdu.dk
Grant: DKK 5.0 million
Total budget: DKK 5.6 million
Funding period: 2014-2017
Research training: 1 PhD and 1 postdoc
Partners: VandCenter Syd, Pohang University of Science and Technology og Korea Institute of Energy Research
Description
Novel technologies are to secure that underutilised biomass contributes to the fulfillment of the ambitious Danish and Korean energy plans. The complementary competences of the Danish and Korean research groups and industries provide a unique opportunity for realisation that the outcome of this study leads to a realisable large production of sustainable energy. The results will contribute with a core solution for the urgently needed increased cost efficient renewable energy production by increasing the amount of useful biomass sources for biogas production. This study encompasses the integration of underutilised recalcitrant waste biomass for energy production through development of novel technologies, which transform recalcitrant to bio-digestible carbon that will be used in energy production and local waste treatment. This transnational platform comprises sequential biological aerobic pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion for biogas production. The integration of technologies in the platform will support a new pathway of conversion of a variety of waste into a valuable energy source by 1) methane production from organic waste with a new economically viable technology that open the carbon sources and 2) development of support for decisionmaking ensuring a sustainable co-processing of organic residues. This new platform will significantly contribute to the future of environmentally friendly bio-energy production in Denmark and Korea, and will be a strong support to the bio industries.
KDFuelCell - Components and materials for electrochemical energy conversion
(3047-00007B)
Danish title: KDFuelCell - Komponenter og materialer til elektrokemisk energikonvertering
(3047-00007B)
Grant holder: Jens Oluf Jensen, Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark
E-mail: jojen@dtu.dk
Grant: DKK 6.5 million
Total budget: DKK 8.7 million
Funding period: 2014-2017
Research training: 2 PhDs
Partners: Danish Power Systems, IRD Fuel Cells, Nordic Institute for Asian Studies (KU), Yonsei University og Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Description
The project KDFuelCell is about a Korean-Danish collaboration on the development of PEM full cells. This is a very active area of research in both countries. Focus is on the central components, such as the ionconducting membrane, which separates the electrodes, and the catalysts which make the electrochemical processes proceed, with as little loss of energy as possible. It is the hope, that the researchers from the two countries together can develop better and cheaper components and thereby easing the introduction of this type of fuel cell in to the market. Parallel with the technical-scientific work a study of the cultural differences between Korea and Denmark will be conducted. Through a series of workshops the project participants will learn more about the cultural characteristics which plays an important role for collaboration and communication. The Danish part of the project will educate two PhDs and these will spend time in Korea with the Korean partners. Finally, in the last year of the project period a joint scientific symposium will be held.