We face the challenge of how to move forward in the energy sector

Your research primarily involves gaseous fuels and gaseous states. Is there interest in this topic among other UCT Prague researchers?

On the topic of natural gas, I seem to be a kind of „last of the Mohicans.“ Which is probably logical, because gas companies do not cooperate with us much in terms of R&D. I do not know why; perhaps it‘s because in the past, almost all gas companies in the Czech Republic were owned by international companies. The government now owns two large companies, so perhaps the situation will change. But in the area of carbon dioxide utilization in Carbon, Capture, and Utilization (CCU) technologies, the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR) has given us several grants, so intensive research is currently going on in this area.

What do you think the future of natural gas, a non-renewable resource, will be?

I don’t know. As a society, we face the challenge of where to go next in terms of energy sources. So far, Europe has decided to replace at least some of its fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. That is, biogas and hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power. Bio LPG or synthetic fuels are also being considered. What will ultimately prevail is the question.

If you had to bet?

I think that the hydrogen era is on its way and that a non-fossil fuel future simply isn’t possible without hydrogen. Not only the future of gaseous fuels, but also partly of liquid fuels or biofuels. Of course, this will open up new research possibilities for us such as the effect of hydrogen on metal and other materials, the quality of hydrogen, safety in the event of hydrogen leaks, optimization of technologies using hydrogen, and so on. A big issue will be how to store hydrogen in underground reservoirs, which is a matter for long-term research focus. Will hydrogen penetrate a rocky environment? What will it cause inside an underground gas reservoir? However, I don’t see much investment in long-term research inquiry into biogas conversion to biomethane, because we already have a lot of key scientific knowledge about that.

One of your long-term areas of investigation has been working with waste CO2, which we recently wrote about on the university website in connection with your new grant from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

We do not see waste CO2 as „waste“ but rather as a possible carrier (or raw material) for other value-added products. When we hydrogenate carbon dioxide, the product can be either synthetic natural gas, methanol (higher alcohols), or plastics, and so on. If we were to view the matter from a purely economic standpoint, production, or course, would be more expensive than using fossil resources. However, it is clear that in Europe, there aren‘t just economic considerations. In this context, the use of „waste CO2“ may make sense.

Another area of ​scientific inquiry for you are materials that can be used in nuclear (and non-nuclear) power plants. What are you currently doing R&D about in this area?

Our SODOMAHe project, where we focused on metallic and non-metallic materials for generation IV nuclear reactors that should use helium for cooling, will come to an end soon. Compared to existing reactors, generation IV reactors would be able to achieve higher efficiency in converting thermal energy to electrical energy, to better-utilize nuclear fuel, and to likely produce less radioactive waste. The coolant temperature at the exit from the core would be up to 1000 °C, which, of course, is associated with material problems related to exposure at such high temperatures. In SODOMAHe, we focused on testing ceramic materials and assembling an apparatus that would allow something that no one had tried before: truly long-term exposure of materials in various gaseous environments at high temperatures. Prior research focused on relatively short exposure times, but we performed exposures for 1,000 hours and are currently considering exposures for up to 5,000 hours. When selecting materials, we chose materials already on the Czech market: ceramic materials based on corundum or mullite ceramics, composed of aluminium oxide and silicon dioxide. We tested silicon carbide used in technologies for the production of nuclear and non-nuclear energy. We also selected zirconium dioxide, which has a high melting point.

What did you find?

We tested the aforementioned materials and obtained interesting results published in the international journals with high impact, as well utility models. The basis was helium research, but we also tested other gases. For example, we found that inert gases, such as nitrogen, can cause changes on the surface of materials when exposed to high temperature for a long time. For example, we did not expect that anything would happen to ceramic materials when exposed to a gas at a temperature of 900–1,000 °C. But we found in our measurements that the oxidation number of some elements changes on the surface. It also turned out that zirconium dioxide is very durable and functional, but would, of course, be very expensive for use in the energy sector.

Unfortunately, my joy with the results is somewhat spoiled by the fact that when we submitted our proposal, the situation on the helium market was significantly different than it is today. Sources of helium on the planet began to decrease rapidly and the price of helium increases every year. The question is what will happen with using helium in reactor cooling circuits.

Did you work on the project on your own?

No, we collaborated on the project with colleagues from the UCT Prague Faculty of Chemical Technology’s Department of Glass and the cooperation with them has been/is excellent.

When I imagine a very high temperature gas guided through some material, the question of gas leakage from joints comes to my mind. Have you also dealt with this issue?

We dealt with leaks in the auspices of a previous REGNET grant. We built a special stand (device) with a unique design that made it possible to test helium (and other gas) leaks through various seals used in the flange joints.

It is a robust and heavy device capable of withstanding high pressure levels. The design for this device is protected by a utility model. Simply put, it works by pushing gas (helium) into one cell connected by a flange joint. The cell itself is covered by another airtight „envelope“. We then fill the interstitial space with, for example, nitrogen, and then check whether there is any gas leakage from the cell into the external space („envelope“).

REGNET, SODOMAHe, WOODOO, VOOUVE, DESPAIR. These are very creative abbreviations for the names of some of your grants. Do you like playing with words?

Every grant-funded project should have an acronym because it simplifies communication. For example, when I communicate with colleagues from the Project Centre with information about my grants, they immediately know which one I’m talking about. I admit, though, that I simply enjoy coming up with acronyms. For example, we have just submitted a proposal called SKIPPER (Stable Metal-Ceramic Joints for Advanced Energy and Industrial Applications), which if funded would focus on the joints of ceramic and metal parts for various technologies and the stability of these joints at different temperatures in different gaseous media.

Which of the research projects you have completed so far have you enjoyed the most?

Every project I have worked on has been interesting, so I cannot name any specific ones. I especially enjoy projects in which there was a level of cooperation between UCT Prague Faculties (for example, combining the topic of gas and material interactions). So far—and I hope that it will continue to be this way—I have learned new things with each new project and have had to constantly broaden my horizons. I also really enjoy working with students on coming up with project-related solutions. Every generation has a different mind-set, a different approach to solving problems. This helps remove the blinders that everyone has after a while.

You head the Department of Sustainable Fuels and Green Chemistry, which was established at the beginning of this year by merging two departments. How is the Department doing?

I see the merger as a big step forward. A large Department was created at UCT Prague’s smallest Faculty and can now compete with most UCT Prague Departments. In terms of scientific performance, we are among the top ten UCT Prague Departments, according to data from 2023. We have the advantage that our team is mostly made up of middle-generation colleagues who exhibit great potential. Thanks to the merger, cooperation between colleagues and research groups has increased. Development is moving forward and we want to participate in it. The merger of two traditional Departments into a larger unit made sense and I think that the new Department has a great future ahead of it, also with regard to the connection of the topics of fuels and green chemistry.

However, I would like to continue restructuring, especially instructional activities. I am pleased that we have quickly managed to double the number of subjects taught in English. As for existing courses, they will be modernized in the near future. This is also related to the reaccreditation of our Energy and Fuels study programme this year, which I initiated due to the reduction in the number of specialized subjects and some basic courses offered.

However, it seems to me that at UCT Prague, we sometimes live in a kind of bubble and do not perceive our environment very well. I am not saying that we should teach strictly according to the wishes of the students. But we should definitely reflect their needs as well as the needs of their future employers. Of course, making changes takes some time.

Starting next year, students will be able to apply to a newly accredited Sustainable Mobility – Energy and Materials programme.

What makes the programme exceptional?

It is a joint programme with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU Prague) and its uniqueness lies precisely in its interdisciplinary nature, which might be the future of higher education. Students of the new programme will not only focus on chemistry, but also on materials and mechanical engineering. They will thus gain a comprehensive insight into the issue of sustainable mobility. In addition to specific expertise, the greater range of expertise will give graduates significantly more opportunities for employment in the industrial, energy, automotive sectors as well as in technological process management or project management offices.

However, I would like to add that no graduate of our university has problems finding employment. On the contrary, companies often ask us to supply them with more and more graduates because they are hungry for them.

But the number of people interested in studying at UCT Prague is not growing…

The possibilities of for Bachelor’s studies at UCT Prague are especially tied to the common core subjects. Because of this, we cannot teach subjects that are attractive to students starting in the first semester. Charles University or the Czech University of Life Sciences, with whom we often compete for Bachelor students, have more attractive study options in the first years. At our university, students are often admitted to the specialized topic classes in their chosen study programmes at the end of the second year. However, I sense a desire for change, so I hope we will see changes soon.

When we recently stopped to chat in the hallway, you enthusiastically described to me an interesting vision for a chemical variation to pumped storage power plants. Will you share your ideas with readers?

One way to solve the problem of generating electricity in a transmission system when the sun is not shining/wind stops blowing for solar and wind power plants is to accumulate electrical energy. You can store this in batteries, which in my opinion is not entirely possible for large amounts of energy. Or you can regulate it by telling residents when they can and cannot consume electrical energy, which is simple, but hard to imagine these days. The third option is „chemical energy“, i.e. the use of electrical energy to produce, for example, hydrogen. The hydrogen could then be stored in some compound and, when we need electrical energy, we take it back. I think an interesting solution would be to build chemical balancing power plants that would operate on a principle similar to pumped storage hydropower plants. I will use as an example toluene, which we could dehydrogenate into methylcyclohexane, and vice versa. When there is a large amount of electrical energy (surplus electrical energy in an electrical transmission system), we would produce hydrogen by electrolysis, carry out hydrogenation, and store energy in the aforementioned chemical bond. If there is a shortage of energy, we will simply release hydrogen from the chemical bond, leaving the original substance. We can use hydrogen to produce electrical energy or to produce chemicals and so on. In this way, we could accumulate a huge amount of electrical energy. Chemical substances suitable for the described process are called LOHC (Liquid Hydrogen Organic Carriers). Perhaps the future lies in them.

This would, of course, require large tanks. Or am I mistaken?

We have the advantage that we have large storage capacities for liquid fuels in the Czech Republic. If traditional liquid fuels are pushed away, wouldn’t we have tanks available? Of course, I realize that this is a simple thought exercise for a very complex problem, but I think the idea is on the right track. The problem of replacing fossil fuels will not disappear; new solutions are needed.