The Resources Innovation Center Leoben at Montanuniversität Leoben is home to the university’s international partnerships in the areas of sustainable science, education and industrialization. Our vision is to make a climate friendly, sustainable future in the raw materials sector.
Brussels Expo
Bringing stakeholders together to shape future research and innovation policy European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and citizens to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond. Why attend The 2020 edition will gather broad input from participants on how research and innovation policy and funding can deliver on the European Green Deal, digitalisation and other priorities. Building on the success of last year’s edition, the 2020 event will feature three days of intensive policy co-designing, thought-provoking panels and matchmaking opportunities. In a crucial year, just ahead of the launch of Horizon Europe, the next Research & Innovation programme starting in 2021, and an enhanced European Research Area, this event is a unique chance to discuss how research and innovation will benefit the future of Europe. Bringing science to you Want to see some science in action? Bring your friends, family, classmates and teachers and join us at Science is Wonderful! – a free exhibition that brings the world of science to the public – showcasing groundbreaking science through hands-on experiments, live demonstrations and chats with European and international researchers. The event will take place at Brussels Expo on 22-24 September 2020.
We proudly present our new teaser video for RM@Schools. RM@Schools is a Wider Society Learning project funded by the EIT, focused on an innovative program to make science education and careers in RM attractive for youngsters. An active learning approach will be proposed to schools through RM Ambassadors by involving students in experiments with RM-related hands-on and digital educational toolkits, in excursions to industries, and in science dissemination activities. Apply here
Sustainable Carbon Supply and Energy Mining based on Methane decomposition is seen as a major contribution to a future carbon footprint reduction while maintaining a sustainable supply with raw materials and green energy. Natural gas is the fossil fuel containing the least impurities with an estimated global resource of around 800 trillion m³. Although the composition of natural gas can vary to some extent, its primary component is methane, CH4. By endothermic decomposition (methane pyrolysis) methane can be split into its components carbon and hydrogen (H2) where especially hydrogen is of interest as a future alternative for various industrial applications. Additionally, there is a high potential for various large-scale applications of carbon, especially in construction and agriculture, if the carbon is available at a lower price than from presently available resources.
Besides the well-known research activities of Montanuniversität Leoben in the fields of metallurgy, raw material supply, and mineral processing the university also has a profound knowledge in the field of high-tech research and applications of carbon based materials. This is a key factor for the sustainable valorisation of a considerable portion of the carbon product from the methane pyrolysis from the economic point of view.
The efficient storage of energy combined with a minimum carbon footprint, as well as the effective capture and conversion of unwanted greenhouse emissions are considered the major challenges towards a progressive, sustainable and environmentally friendly society on a global scale [Aneke2016]. Energy can be stored in pure chemical form using gas carriers with high heating values, such as hydrogen (H2), as well as in electrical form, for instance in batteries or by storing ions at the electrode/electrolyte interface in electrical double layers capacitors. Storage of energy by these technologies opens the most attractive scenarios towards replacement of the present utilization of finite, carbon-rich and environmentally harmful fossil fuels, such as diesel and gasoline.
Consequentially, methane pyrolysis is a crucial and promising technology for the economic production of hydrogen at industrial scale without a CO2 footprint while additionally generating value from the carbon product. The current challenges for future industrial implementation of this technology are (1) the scalability of the processes and (2) the generation of high-value carbon products for small markets as well as low-price valorisation routes for bulk markets like construction industry and agriculture.
Project partners: Montanuniversität Leoben, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Primetals Technologies Limited, Wien Energie GmbH, voestalpine AG, RAG Austria AG
Patrick joined the team of the RIC Leoben in July 2019 assustainable development coordinator. He is responsible for the activities in the UniNEtZ project, a joint project of all higher education institutions of Austria for an integrated anthology of options for the Austrian government for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular Patrick is responsible for the coordination of Montanuniversitaet’s Sustainable Development Goal 12 – “Responsible Consumption and Production” partnership, in collaboration with Johannes Kepler Universitaet. He is an active part in the development of the sustainability agenda of RIC.Patrick studied mechanical engineering at Montanuniversitaet Leoben. During his studies he worked at Materials Center Leoben as a student researcher for over 4 years, where he calculated material and friction behaviour of rails by using finite elements methods combined with contact mechanics knowledge. His passion for societal needs and development have led him into his current position.
Raw Materials Students Internships in East South-East Europe
RAISESEE “Raw Materials Students Internships in East South-East Europe” project is the extension of RAISE project with special focus on countries in East and South-East Europe. The goal is to develop hands-on internships in working environments for secondary schools students. The mix of basic training in lab/industry safety rules, Raw Material related themes and of hands-on stages in “real world” research institutes, universities and industries will help students toward an informed choice of their university studies, allowing pupils to match their expectations and talents with the opportunities offered by the stakeholders in different Raw Materials sectors. A specific task of RAISESEE will also be the inclusion of several partners from ESEE area as active actors in training activities.
07/2018 – 03/2022
EIT RawMaterials – Regional Innovation Scheme
Montanuniversität Leoben (Partner), ASTER S. Cons. P.A., Association of Technology Engineers of Republic of Srpska, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, HYdrogen for Development of Environmental Projects, National Institute of Materials Physics Bucharest, Politecnico di
Milano, Tallinn University of Technology, University of Banja Luka, University of Oulu;
RIC Leoben – Mariaelena Murphy
Total: € 250.670
Montanuniversität Leoben: € 26.337
