Solar-driven Ca-Looping Process for Thermochemical Energy Storage

A clean energy storage system

Ana Ferreira
Researcher, CQE, IST/ULisboa

Ana C. Ferreira, PhD in Chemistry, is a contract researcher at CQE-IST in Lisboa (PhD in Chemistry). Her main research interests include the development of new nanostructured heterogeneous systems for catalytic valorization of greenhouse gaseous pollutants, such as CH₄, N₂O and CO₂. Her goal is to produce fuels or chemicals of industrial interest such as hydrocarbons and alcohols, while promoting green and sustainable solutions to reduce these pollutants. In 2018, she won a research project financed by FCT (PTDC/EAM-PEC/28374/2017) where she served as the Principal Investigator. The main objectives of this project were: i) the synthesis of nanoporous bimetallic compounds based on f-block elements, supported or not on carbon or silica matrices; ii) the investigation of their catalytic behavior for CO₂ hydrogenation, especially the CO₂ methanation, which is one of the most attractive options to reduce CO₂ emissions with relevant industrial applications, Power-to-Gas technology for renewable energy storage or biogas-upgrading. The project successfully achieved its milestones, resulting in 8 articles, 2 articles in preparation and the supervised 6 MSc/Fellowships grants.

In 2022, she worked as Senior Researcher in a BIOREF – Collaborative Laboratory for Biorefineries. During this period, she acquired new skills and competencies in the implementation and valorization of a green e-fuels value chain in Portugal, production of green H₂, biogenic CO_2, and e-methanol, in different disciplinary areas. Currently, she is a researcher CQE-IST, actively contributing to the SoCaLTES FCT Project. In this role, she is involved in testing natural and synthetic CaCO₃-based materials in the Ca-looping process for thermochemical energy storage (TCES) which complements her expertise in CO₂ utilization/capture.