Can CO2 become a resource?
Capture is only one part of the problem. We study what can be done with CO2 after it is captured: new solvents, mineralisation routes, supercritical processes and materials that hold or transform it.
CO2 utilisationCover story / Carbon, materials and energy
Gases and materials, rethought for a finite planet.
MATGAS studies the full life cycle of CO2, from capture and conversion to safe use, alongside energy materials, clean water and food preservation. We combine molecular modelling with laboratory work and bring both into conversation with industry.
Seven research lines. Seven laboratory spaces. One connected programme.
In this issue
An economic interest group formed by
Carburos Metálicos, Air Products group
CSIC, Spanish National Research Council
UAB, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Features / what we work on
Three questions run through the centre.
They are practical questions about carbon, energy and resources. Answering them requires chemistry, physics, engineering and a clear view of the systems in which a new process has to operate.
How do materials store and move energy?
Hydrogen, batteries, photovoltaics and catalysts depend on materials that behave predictably at surfaces and interfaces. We model them, make them and measure them.
Materials for energyHow can industry use less and waste less?
Water treatment, food preservation and process intensification are routes to lower impact. We test them at laboratory and pilot scale, then assess the net environmental effect.
Water treatmentContents / research lines
A programme built around seven connected lines.
Five lines address a field of application. Two work across all of them: simulation and modelling, and life cycle assessment.
01
CO2 utilisation
Capture, preparation and use of CO2 in industrial processes and materials.
02Bioenergy
Recovering energy and added value products from biological residues.
03Materials for energy
New materials for energy conversion, storage and catalysis.
04Food preservation
Gas based protection of packaged food, with less reliance on additives.
05Water treatment
Technically viable routes to cleaner industrial and leisure water.
06Simulation and modelling
Molecular and process models that make experiments more decisive.
07Life cycle assessment
Quantifying the net environmental gain of a new process or product.
Field notes / laboratories
From a single molecule to a pilot plant.
Our facilities support modelling, synthesis, characterisation and scale up. Each space has a defined role, and projects often move between several of them.
Editor's note
Modelling and experiments, held in the same conversation.
Many research questions are too complex for a single technique. A model can narrow the field of possible materials; an experiment can test whether the model has captured the right physics. The centre is organised so that the two can respond to each other quickly.
That way of working also shapes our partnerships. We begin with a real process or material problem, agree what a useful result would look like, and keep the assessment of environmental benefit in view from the start.
The centre
- Legal form
- Nonprofit economic interest group
- Founding partners
- Carburos Metálicos, CSIC and UAB
- Focus
- Materials, gases and sustainable processes
- Location
- Campus UAB, Bellaterra
Where to begin
Dispatches / from the archive
Dispatches from the centre.
The news archive records research findings, project milestones and people. It is a working record rather than a live feed.
National Award for public private research
MATGAS received the 2014 National Award for the Public Private Partnership in Research and Innovation, given by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation.
Read the noteUltrastable glasses and quantum behaviour
A study with UAB and UAM researchers found that ultrastable indomethacin glasses depart from the quantum tunnelling states usually seen in amorphous solids at low temperature.
Read the noteA new consortium for hydrogen safety
The H2TRUST consortium was formed to examine the sustainability and safety of hydrogen as it enters wider use in European cities and industrial systems.
Read the noteBring a question to the laboratory.
We work with companies, public research groups and early career researchers. A first conversation can be about a material, a process, a measurement or a project idea.