The "Along with Petroleum" R&D Programme

The main topics of research on solar energy are:

• development of photovoltaic cells based on organic materials and/or polymer to reduce the cost of producing electricity from solar, overcoming the limitations of current technologies, based on silicon;
• synthesis of photoactive materials that can increase the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices; this project received the "Oscar Masi prize for industrial innovation" by AIRI (Italian Association for Industrial Innovation)
• photo-production of hydrogen by dissociation of water through solar energy;
• development of power generation hybrid systems (with possible co-production of desalinated water) based on concentrated solar power technology and combined cycles, including the enhancement of remote reserves of natural gas.

The main topics of research on the production and use of biomass energy are:

• Biomass to Liquids (BTL): conversion of non-edible biomass into biofuels via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (second-generation biofuels);
• use of micro-organisms (yeast, fungi, bacteria and microalgae) dedicated to the production of biofuels (third generation biofuels);
• Solid waste conversion: thermo-chemical conversion of the organic component of municipal solid waste and sludge produced by wastewater urban treatment plants into a bio-oil that can be treated by existing refinery processes and converted into biofuels for transportation
• identification of plants to use only for energy (not for food) with high productivity, in order to significantly reduce the production cost of biofuels and the farming areas.