Politecnico di Milano

Founded in 2008, the Department of Energy is a recognized centre of excellence in research and education, as part of Politecnico di Milano, the largest scientific and technological university in Italy with more than 47’000 students and 1’200 faculty members. Its experimental and numerical activities cover all the complexity of research in the energy world. The GECOS (Group of Energy COnversion Systems) team focuses on the conception, design, and optimization of energy systems for a sustainable future through system and process simulation, mathematical optimization, and experimental testing. GECOS activities span several research areas, including advanced power cycles, renewable energy sources, carbon capture technologies, energy systems modelling and optimization, microgrids and multi-energy systems, and hydrogen technologies. Participation in industrial and publicly funded projects is an integral part of the research activities, providing a strong link between a solid academic background and real-world applications.

By combining advanced modelling with experimental data from the IsoPROPEL project, this work will help improve and validate process and supply chains models. Building on its long-standing experience in the simulation and optimization of energy storage and conversion processes, as well as in techno-economic assessments, POLIMI will explore new research directions and develop innovative approaches. These efforts will support further progress in the development of hydrogen carriers, e-fuels, and other renewable solutions for sustainable transport, in line with the university’s research mission.

Politecnico di Milano will lead the activities related to optimization, techno-economic assessment, and sustainability aspects of energy carrier production, their use in DIFC-powered shipping, and cyclic recharging. Within this framework, and supported by experimental validation and detailed modelling provided by the other project partners, POLIMI will define and optimize full-scale processes through advanced modelling, including mass and energy balances. This comprehensive process evaluation will result in a consolidated and integrated techno-economic analysis of the entire IsoPROPEL supply chain.