The EHA since several years has been supporting the work of the Education Working Group of the International Partnership for the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Economy, IPHE.  The 22nd IPHE Steering Committee was organized by Italy in Rome and the 5th IPHE Educational event, the so-called H2igher Educational Rounds was organized with the support of Sapienza University in the Casa dell’Aviatore. At the event the first IPHE Educational Awards for outstanding R&D work in the  FC&H2 technology area for Italy  were announced for the best Doctoral and Master thesis by the jury of Professors from Italian Universities: Alessandra D’Epifanio (Università di Roma Tor Vergata), Bruno Scrosati and Maria Navarra (Sapienza-Uni Roma), Vito Di Noto (Università di  Padova) and chairs of IPHE Education Working Group Juergen Garche (Germany) and Marieke Reijalt (Italy).  Selection criteria included Originality, Methodology, Scientific / technological progress in international context and Advances toward the feasibility of H2-based energy systems. 12 master thesis and 8 PhD thesis were received.

The winner of the PhD award was Mr.  D. Papurello, of the Politecnico di Torino (far left) on “Biogas from anaerobic digestion of biomass (Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste and sewage sludge): trace compounds characterization through an innovative technique (PTR-MS) and detrimental effects on SOFC energy generators, from single cells to short stacks” in EnglishThe thesis shows the technical feasibility of the energy generation using an SOFC stack fed by biogas coming from the organic waste anaerobic digestion.

The winning master thesis was  Mr. G. Sdanghi, of  the Napoli Federico II University on ” New Generation Fuel Cells fed by Biohydrogen for Aerospace    Application” (in Italian)  on a Dark Fermentation Process to produce Biohydrogen for feeding a PEMFC and AFC System for Aerospace Applications. (second from left)