VITO

VITO   Belgium

The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) is a leading independent European research and technology organisation and consulting centre that develops innovative products and processes and delivers client-oriented research projects, building on its decades-long experience of multidisciplinary research.

VITO plays a vital economic and social role acting as a conduit between stakeholders from business, government and the research community. More specifically, VITO’s research and industrial consultancy is directed towards solving problems and technology transfer related to energy efficiency, new materials, environmental protection and resource scarcity.

VITO’s long-established Sustainable Materials Department (SuMAT) has gained international recognition as an important research facility for – among other things – sustainable materials development and clean technologies.

With a well-connected team of experienced researchers, and state-of-the-art laboratories, the department has unrivalled experience of developing innovative materials and technologies from the initial stages of materials preparation, through advanced shaping processes to materials characterisation. The department have delivered proven results in advanced materials processing into different structures and forms, including the production of spheres by droplet coagulation and spray drying; powder processing for technical ceramics; coating; biomedical scaffolds; 3D-structured catalysts and adsorbents for chemical production; mixed conductor membranes for gas separation.

Website: https://vito.be

Contact: Vesna Middelkoop (vesna.middelkoop@vito.be)

ROLE IN PROJECT: The technical contribution of VITO to the project will be focused on the development, fabrication and characterisation of the 3D co-printed catalyst structures for the multichannel reactor design in WP2 “CO₂ utilisation reaction for DME production, novel proof of concept” and WP3 “Reaction optimisation and process integration”. As part of WP4 “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), socio-economic assessment (LCC, S-LCA)” VITO will also perform Nano safety studies. Alongside this, VITO’s role will involve the coordination of the project.