Photosynthesis and the Industry Scale

“Programa de Seminários do IQ-Unicamp, setembro/2022”

Título: “Photosynthesis and the Industry Scale”
Dra. Flávia Maria Cassiola – Shell Technologies Center Houston

Data: 22/09 (quinta-feira)
Horário: 16h00

Resumo: It tastes like a dream, and it is certainly too good to be true when we look at photosynthesis as one of the solutions to sustainable, cheap, and abundant energy for the needs of our modern society. This opportunity is an invitation to us for considering the industrial application of light, in promoting photosynthesis at scale, as idealized in the late 1800, early 1900’s. The relevance of photocatalytic processes in human life has been increasing steadily. The grand challenge of photosynthetic routes to fuels and chemicals is to further expand practical applications of photocatalytic technology in the industrial scale. Let us take a brief look on the requirements:
– System-level engineering of photocatalyst for light harvesting, photo-generated charge carriers separation and transfer & surface reaction light absorption (closely related to the energy band structure of photocatalysts);
– Amplification of photocatalytic systems: improvement and optimization of reactors. A well-designed reactor can improve the reaction efficiency, reduce the waste of energy and catalyst, and improve the economic benefits.
– Uniform efficiency standards: it is pointless to compare the photocatalytic activity from different literatures based on the yield of the target product alone.
We take our conclusions by observing the insights from Shell’s Solar Fuels Model (SFM) tool. SFM is an optimization framework developed in-house by the Long-Range Research/Integrated Systems Modelling team. The SFM framework is a paragon of systems thinking and systems collaboration, which has supported Shell’s R&D agenda for over 4 years now. It combines mathematically rigorous optimization models with a Subject Matter Expert quality-assured techno-economic database on renewable power and conversion (Power to X – PtX) technologies.

Flávia Maria Cassiola, PhD., Sr. Scientist, Dense Energy Carriers program. Native of Bariri, SP and a Unicamp – IQ alumnus. I am with Shell since 2012 and with the Energy Transition team since 2017. I work on routes to fuels and chemicals synthesis based on renewables sources. My team sets the fundamentals for future technologies in electrochemistry, direct air capture, photosynthesis andthe sustainability aspects of products from Shell (carbon footprint). What do I like most in working for Shell at this unique moment? The possibility of developing sustainable energy matrixes for an urgent transition from full dependency on fossil sources. At the present, we can and will pave the way for the changes in the future where the energy matrixes explore local diversity on resources and integrate the customer’s demands for a circular economy.

Link principal: https://meet.google.com/ycv-bybk-hpr
Streaming alternativo:  https://stream.meet.google.com/stream/ba174c84-b87d-41a2-b2fd-e7cce681c71a
Youtube:  https://youtu.be/pecbUYMWN4Y

Alunos de pós-graduação: o seminário será contabilizado para os alunos que acessarem a sala do Google Meet ou do Stream do Meet através dos links disponibilizados acima, obrigatoriamente com o e-mail @unicamp.br, e que permanecerem conectados ao seminário durante todo o evento.
Não será considerado para cumprimento de seminário da pós-graduação o acesso realizado através do “stream do youtube.”