University Of Cape Town Announces Its Partnership With Helmholtz-Zentrum To Decarbonise Aviation
University Of Cape Town Announces Its Partnership With Helmholtz-Zentrum To Decarbonise Aviation. University Of Cape Town (UCT) has announced that it has partnered with German-based company Helmholtz-Zentrum in order to decarbonise aviation. The University of Cape Town (UCT) is one of the partners in a €40 million (approximately R718 million) three-year research project.
Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) conducts research on complex energy materials. The company’s portfolio includes solar cells, solar fuels, thermoelectrical materials, and magnetic materials suitable for new, energy-efficient information technologies such as spintronics. The company operates the synchrotron source BESSY II for investigating material with brilliant X-Ray pulses. BESSY II is an internationally requested user facility with an extremely high scientific output. HZB is offering its clients cutting-edge scientific facilities and attractive opportunities for their professional development. The company maintains strong ties to the Berlin universities and are also working closely with international experts from research and industry.
Professor Michael Claeys, the director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis at UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering said in a statement, “The CARE-O-SENE project is about making the future fuel for aviation. The aim is to decarbonise the aviation sector and make it sustainable over the long term, by focusing our research efforts on the catalysts that are needed to produce green kerosene on a commercial scale. We are undergoing a huge change in our global energy systems, and every country has to play a role in that. If we can replace kerosene with a defossilised alternative, carbon dioxide emissions will be greatly reduced overall. If we are successful, this research will make it possible for the aviation industry to become carbon neutral.”
According to UCT, other CARE-O-SENE project partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and INERATEC GmbH, with €30 million in funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and a further €10 million by Sasol.
