03 Mar 2021 / News

The University of Zaragoza and AlSiCal

The University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) is the AlSiCal project partner dedicated to performing realistic material and energy balances, to account for techno-economic benchmarks. With those, a holistic Life Cycle Cost Analysis is also to be performed. We asked them to tell us more about their contribution and vision on the AlSiCal project.

”One of the main challenges of the project is that profit is not only considered under the scope of traditional Economics, but also Planet and People. The underlying chemical conversions are Environmentally friendly, so that three different byproducts are coproduced, while aiming for zero waste. Plus, an integrated Carbon Capture and Utilization step is taken into consideration. Communities must benefit from implementation, as empowered stakeholders. Economically wise, it is for the consortium to target those niches with the most interesting value to ensure viability.

Although these considerations may seem to belong to an upper management level, all are to be made by strict compliance with the Laws of Thermodynamics, expressed in an abstract and tangled mathematical language. Once all the balances, material and energy streams obtained, yet another challenging task is to assign the proper economic and social, environmental values to inputs and outputs all along the process, to identify weaknesses and strengths.”

The University of Zaragoza team for AlSiCal

”The UNIZAR team is led by the professors Luis Miguel Romeo and Eva Llera, both of them with a wide expertise in energy efficiency, CO₂ and energy socioeconomics, as well as the young and the promising researchers Enrique García and Javier Sáez de Guinoa. Enrique thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the funding received, that conveyed a stable framework for him.”

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