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| Towards large-scale electroconversion systems project completed after a challenging 4-year |
After a four-year period of existence, the Towards large-scale electroconversion systems (TOeLS) project concluded last December. With only a few components remaining that were completed in 2024, the end is now a reality. What did it bring?
The TOeLS project was a vast four-year project undertaken by researchers at the Delft University of Technology and funded by Shell, Topsector Chemie and Topsector Energie. The project began in early 2019 and concluded at the end of 2023, with a subset of projects wrapping up in 2024 as well. Here our researchers were tasked with far reaching research questions across the entire electrolyzer space, with the goal of advancing fundamental and applied understanding. Such an overarching goal brought together people from the 4 faculties of TNW, ME, TPM and EEMCS.
 The 10-PhD’s working on the project spanned from catalyst and membrane development to looking at larger electrolyzer technical considerations. At even higher levels the flexibility, power quality factors and photovoltaic integration of electrolyzers were examined. Such a breadth of topics provided perspective, but also intra- and interuniversity collaborative challenges, particularly as the project straddled the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite these headwinds, the TOeLS project led to training highly-qualified personnel ready to enter the electrochemical workforce, and research in highly-acclaimed journals. Together these
provide a platform for further technological advancements within the Netherlands and Europe, with many research lines continuing in further consortia such as e-Heat and FlexEChem, projects with the HyET group, and several European Union projects.
During the TOeLS project timeline we also saw the retirements of the original Scientific Directors for the project Prof. Hans Geerlings and Prof. Bernard Dam, who shepherded the project from its conception to a sprawling multifaceted consortium. Offsetting these departures were the promotions of TOeLS principal investigators David Vermaas, Ludovic Jourdin, Ruud Kortlever and Thomas Burdyny from Assistant to Associate Professors, ensuring the long-term leadership of these research directions. As one project closes, new avenues open up. We’re excited for the coming years in the electrochemical research space. |
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| TOeLS facts |
Towards Large-Scale electro-conversion systems (TOeLS) project was a four-year project undertaken TU Delft and funded by Shell, Topsector Chemie and Topsector Energie. There were 10 sub-projects looking at aspects critical for the large-scale deployment of electrolyzers, with an emphasis on CO2 electrolyzers. Sub-topics included:
- High-current density CO2 electrochemical processes
- Spatial Reagent Effects in High-Current CO2 Electrolysis Systems
- New Membrane Materials for Advanced Electrochemical Designs
- Electroreduction of CO2 on copper foils: selectivity and in-situ X-ray diffraction
- Bridging scales in electrochemical reactor design
- A biobased approach to e-refinery concepts
- Integrated CO2 capture and electrochemical conversion process
- Flexible Chemical Processes Driven by Renewable Electricity – A Conceptual Case Study of Microbial Electrosynthesis
- Electronics for Power Quality in Electrolyzers
- Use of Solar PV for Electrolyzer Integration without Electrical Storage
From a bibliometric perspective, there were >60 resulting presentations, 4 patents and 30 published/ongoing manuscripts, including publications in Nature Communications, ACS Energy Letters, and Sustainable Energy & Fuels. |
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