The key challenges for innovation at Abengoa will be met through Abengoa Research, a new Abengoa subsidiary pursuing cutting-edge innovative R&D in the fields of energy and the environment. This affiliate will boast a multidisciplinary team of world-renowned researchers, whose primary objective is to generate and apply new knowledge upon which to base Abengoa’s future growth. To cite a specific example, Abengoa Research will unveil a program focusing on ocean power and technologies with a view to supporting their development and implementation as a new renewable energy source.
 

In the field of second-generation fuels, where Abengoa is a global leader thanks to its York plant in Nebraska and its Babilafuente plant in Salamanca, the subsidiary company Abengoa Bioenergy New Technologies was chosen to design, build and operate the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) large-scale demonstration biorefinery, with proceeds from the subsidy partially funding the project. The biorefinery will be annexed to a starch-based ethanol plant, part of a hybrid complex in Hugton, Kansas (USA).
 

The biorefinery will have a minimum 700 t/day conversion capacity and will feature two industrial processes: Enzymatic Hydrolysis (EH) and Gasification. The EH process will convert biomass(400 t/day) into ethanol, lignin and livestock feed, while the gasification section will convert 300 t/day of biomass into syngas, which will be burned to generate steam. The steam will then be used internally at the biomass plant, with the surplus being sold to the adjacent starch plant.

 

Abengoa intends to construct a technological R&D facility, where applied research will be conducted to explore new materials, photovoltaic cells, prototypes and thin film technologies. The knowledge generated will help Abengoa Solar create competitive proprietary technologies, enabling it to draw up future plans for industrialization.

Over the course of 2011, the company intends to roll out research programs in collaboration with Spanish and European universities and R&D centers. Work will essentially focus on areas such as oxycombustion for cleaner thermal plants, mineral CO2 binding for the cement industry, and energy management systems utilizing different types of batteries to integrate renewable energies into the grid.

Objectives in the water segment are as follows: To position the company as a leader in desalination; to be technologically competitive in potabilization, urban and industrial wastewater treatment and reutilization; and to consolidate leadership in hydraulic infrastructure and in water resource management models and systems.
 

As far as aluminum waste recycling is concerned, R&D activities seek to enhance performance in recovering raw materials and aluminum waste, optimize operational processes and product quality, in addition to developing new and better technologies contributing to sustainable development.

The area of global industrial waste management seeks to develop new technologies to increase the number of treatable waste types, and also to keep up with the continuous changes in environmental law and regulation and with the increasing diversification towards new environment-oriented markets.