Energy

Industry is one of the main contributors of the final energy consumption, greenhouse gases emission, freshwater consumption and wastewater discharges. Our group investigates energy efficiency to minimize the total energy cost of industrial plants, contributing to a more sustainable power grid. EnerG researchers are part of the National Group for Process Integration and of the Industrial Energy-related Technologies and Systems. 

We collaborate with companies from the energy market, regulatory entities and energy users to bridge the gap between research and real-world application, driving advancements in sustainable energy practices in Portugal. 

A recent example is the creation of an integrated system to reduce water-energy consumption (WEIS), that proves that eco-efficiency is an achievable goal in industrial processes.

This branch of our research aims to improve and enhance the production of non-fossil sources of energy. 

We aim to repurpose biomass and waste towards the production of renewable alternative to fossil-based products, such as biodiesel, green hydrogen and green ammonia. 

Our aim is to use the lessons learnt from the production of fossil fuels (expertise in subsurface characterization and fluid modelling) into the development of geothermal energy, geo-storage of gases and offshore wind farming.

Our scientists developed a suite of computational tools that is used in the industry to model the subsurface rock properties for hydrocarbon reservoirs characterization, mainly based on geophysical inverse methods. We also study and implement methods that contribute to a less hazardous production of hydrocarbons.