P2CE

Code: PID2024-161960OB-I00 Directors: Moisès Graells Sobré, Montserrat Pérez-Moya Funding: Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación 2024–2027 Period: September 2025 – August 2028 Project record: P2CE at FUTUR

The circular economy (CE) is a resource management paradigm focused on maintaining a circular flow of materials, extending product life cycles and minimising waste. In contrast to the linear economy, which relies on continuously extracting finite raw materials, it aims for sustainability at micro, macro and planetary levels, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Fuelling the circular economy with fossil resources is not sustainable, so renewable energy is crucial to its success. This in turn requires reliable power and energy management systems (EMS), along with methods and tools for synthesising, designing, operating and controlling complex integrated energy–matter systems throughout their life cycle. P2CE integrates EMS and Process Systems Engineering (PSE) to extend concepts such as power-to-hydrogen (P2H2), power-to-gas (P2Gas) and power-to-X (P2X) in support of the circular economy.

The project develops intelligent resource management tools for designing, synthesising and controlling sustainable CE systems powered by renewable energy, integrating process models and strategies across hierarchical decision levels. Case studies focus on carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen and hydrocarbons, with the goal of decarbonising industrial processes, and explore alternatives for upcycling CO₂ into added-value products along two test beds covering demonstrative, research and industrial scenarios:

• The UPC Hydrogen Lab, a microgrid that provides technical support and durability testing to industry while developing new technologies for producing hydrogen from renewables. Here the project focuses on upcycling CO₂ into methane, methanol and larger hydrocarbons: fuels, but also raw materials that close the carbon loop.
• GasN2, an SME combining captured CO₂ with green hydrogen in an industrial pilot plant. This collaboration, established through an industrial PhD, provides data and validation opportunities for catalyst development, reactor engineering, process modelling, route selection and scale-up.

Both case studies test decision-support tools for selecting and implementing CO₂ upcycling processes in circular economy systems powered by renewables, producing benchmarks and guidelines for scaling up future P2CE systems. The project is carried out jointly with research groups from the UPC departments of Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.