The 112CO2 Consortium has announced the commencement of its second monetary prize for the "Industrial/Commercial Applications for Methane Decomposition" challenge. Running from February 1, 2022, to March 31, 2022, this initiative invites visionary teams and individuals to contribute groundbreaking ideas and reports.

At the heart of this challenge is the ongoing EU project 112CO2, which promises to revolutionize the landscape with a low-temperature catalytic reactor displaying exceptional catalytic activity and stability. The innovative approach introduces a cyclic regeneration process for a nickel-based catalyst, facilitating selective carbon hydrogenation at the catalyst-carbon interface. This process ensures a continuous high level of catalyst activity and stability, as demonstrated by preliminary results, boasting catalytic activities at 550 °C exceeding 5 gH2 gCat-1 h-1 and an unparalleled catalytic stability of over 5000 hours.

To incentivize and recognize excellence, the 112CO2 Consortium is allocating a total prize pool of €70,000 for the challenge. This significant financial support aims to attract and engage highly skilled and motivated teams, fostering collaboration across academia, industry, and the wider public. Notably, these prizes are awarded within the framework of the 112CO2 project funded by the European Commission but are not classified as EU Prizes.

Potential participants should take note that applicant institutions, acting as the authors of the ideas and reports, will bear responsibility for addressing any claims related to property rights by third parties. The Consortium emphasizes that the content of proposals and reports will be utilized for dissemination purposes, with proper acknowledgment of the authors, but without the acquisition of ownership rights by the Consortium.

Futher information is available at https://www.112co2.eu/open-calls/monetary-prize/