The State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the Brazilian Company for Research and Industrial Innovation (embrapii) inaugurated, this Wednesday (08/11), the new reference unit focused on innovation in renewable energy in the country. The Embrapii E-Renova Unit is located at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FEQ Unicamp), on the Unicamp campus in Campinas, and will have an initial planned investment of 4,8 million reais. The inauguration event was attended by the rector of Unicamp, representatives from Embrapii and partner companies and had the support of the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency.
E-Renova is a renewable energy skills unit for the development of projects in partnership with companies in the industrial sector, stimulating the transfer of knowledge and the search for technological solutions. The unit will carry out studies to create new products and processes for the industry based on the processing of biomass, agro-industrial waste and biofuels, especially those with high energy density, whose development potential in Brazil is high. The objective is to enhance Brazilian competitiveness with a focus on sustainability.
“This is an essential area for the country. Through a closer relationship with the business world, promoted by Embrapii, the University is better able to transform knowledge, science and technology, generated within the university, into innovation and products that have an impact on the economy. This means development of society, improvement of social justice and generation of income for people and brings Brazil closer to the developed world”, said the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, during the inauguration of E-Renova.
Rubens Maciel Filho, professor at FEQ Unicamp and coordinator of the E-Renova Unit, highlights the reach that the new research center can achieve: “Energy and fuels from renewable sources, including biomass, are essential to contribute to the necessary decarbonization of the economy. In the case of Brazil, it is still an important factor for sustainability, including a strong aspect for social development, due to the scope and strength of agribusiness in the country”, says Maciel. He also describes the role that the new center will play:
“In this context, E-Renova emerges, an Embrapii unit of FEQ Unicamp, made up of renowned researchers with recognized experience in the area of energy and renewable fuels, with the mission of being an important vector of integration between the university, research centers and companies, to transform science and knowledge into useful technology for sustainable development”, explains Maciel.
How the E-Renova Unit will work
E-Renova is the second research unit accredited by Embrapii at Unicamp. The first already operates at the Medicinal Chemistry Center (CQMED) and focuses on the development of biopharmaceuticals and pharmaceuticals. The research to be developed at E-Renova, in turn, will be directed to new processes and products in renewable energy, such as the production of biofuels from agro-industrial waste — including sugar cane, corn and forestry waste, generated by the paper and cellulose industry —, among others.
The Unit will have a complex of facilities with 11.762 m² of built area, 6.000 m² of which are exclusively dedicated to research laboratories, which include 15 different laboratories available for carrying out research. In the development of the studies, the use of simulation tools for technical-economic evaluation and life cycle and process safety analysis are also planned, thus allowing an integrated view of the system, in addition to optimized and computer-controlled operations. It is expected that all these methods will provide the development of new sustainable processes.
"The creation of the Embrapii E-Renova Unit, in a strategic dimension, proves to be fundamental for Industrial Policy and will certainly contribute significantly to the new economy, based on sustainability", said Ilda Bisinotti, Strategic Actions Coordinator at Embrapii.
The initial lines of research address the production of hydrogen from renewable sources; long-distance biofuels, such as renewable diesel, biodiesel, biokerosene (jet fuel), fuel oils and marine fuels; and high-octane biofuels, such as ethanol and biobutanol. It also includes studies on the co-processing of renewables in oil refineries; study of thermochemical routes, such as the conversion of biomass into synthesis gas (gasification), bio-oil and biochar (pyrolysis); and technical-economic and environmental impact analyzes of fuel and renewable energy production routes.
Researchers, investments and grants
The new E-Renova unit will be coordinated by professor Rubens Maciel Filho, assisted by professor Leonardo Vasconcelos Fregolente, both from FEQ Unicamp. They will manage a team made up of 12 professors, as well as FEQ employees, researchers and students, with different specialties. To support researchers, it is planned to offer scholarships in the categories of Scientific Initiation, Master's, Doctorate and Post-Doctorate.
“E-Renova’s accreditation seal as an Embrapii unit adds value to the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. We envisage a level change in technological development and technology transfer, with the increased collaboration that the unit has carried out over the last few years with the private sector”, commented the director of FEQ, Dirceu Noriler.
The new E-Renova center will also have the support of Agência Inova Unicamp, which will offer all its expertise to facilitate the processes of protecting intellectual property and transferring technologies developed at the unit, as well as supporting negotiations with companies interested in sign Research and Development (R&D) agreements with Unicamp. Professor Ana Frattini, executive director of Inova Unicamp, highlights the importance of the new research center for stimulating innovation:
"Innovation is nothing more than inventions arising from scientific and technological research that spill beyond the borders of the university. In this sense, E-Renova has immense potential to socially and environmentally impact the reindustrialization process in the country. Just as happened In this accreditation process, any other thematic areas of the university can count on the support of Inova to strengthen relationships with companies and prepare proposals for new Embrapii units at Unicamp", says Frattini.
Research agreements with companies
One of the objectives of the Embrapii E-Renova Unit is to strengthen the university-company partnerships that already exist at Unicamp, in addition to attracting new partner companies, including startups. Embrapii's new research center has the potential to consolidate FEQ as a hub for national technological development in biofuels and renewable energy, with the presentation of intelligent technology-based solutions, following sustainability criteria.
The projects to be developed will have interfaces with companies in the sugar-corn-energy, industrial biotechnology, forestry, oil and gas and renewable products and energy sectors. The project also includes objectives such as generating intellectual property, training of specialized human resources and the consolidation of new areas of research.
