Politecnico di Torino (POLITO) was founded 150 years ago and represents a leading public university, in Italy and in Europe, in technical-scientific teaching and research. There are currently 26000 students on more than 115 courses. Staff members are more than 900 (professors and researchers), plus about 1000 administrative and technical staff. Politecnico di Torino is strictly connected with the enterprise system and has a long experience as a partner in common research projects with other European and international centres. Almost 700 research project contracts in collaboration with industries and government-funded institutions provide an income of around 400 million Euros each year.
Department of Energy (DENERG) is the leading structure in the fields of power and energy and sustainable development. The main goal is to improve the existing technologies in the energy sector, to promote the innovation and to contribute to the rational and aware use of different energy resources. The Energy Department – DENERG has a leading role in the field of production, transport, distribution, conversion and use of energy, with the aim of improving the existing technology and promoting the innovative technology in the field. The Energy Department – DENERG promotes, organizes and manages the basic and applied research, the technology transfer and business services in the field of energy resources and related conversion technologies, distribution and final use in the industrial, civil, transport and service sectors environments.
Synergies of Thermo-chemical and Electro-chemical Power Systems (STEPS) group focuses its activity on high-efficiency systems for energy storage and conversion. Both experimental and modelling activity are carried out according to a multi-scale approach (from materials characterization to the whole process analysis).
The following research activities are currently carried out
• Electrochemical devices (fuel cell and electrolysis)
• Catalysts for synthetic fuels and chemicals
• Biogas-fed high-efficiency power systems
• Energy storage and conversion
• Carbon dioxide capture
• Modelling for energy and techno-economic analysis