Welcome to the new edition of our DARE2X interview series! In these brief chats, we introduce you to our project partners, exploring their roles in developing our innovative and decentralised ammonia (NH₃) technology. Discover how this DARE2X solution will be made safe and learn about its numerous benefits for society. On this occasion, we spoke with our partners at ENSO Innovation!

ENSO is one of the key partners in a consortium of world-leading research institutions, and innovative R&D-performing SMEs from different countries. Tell us a little bit about your group and research activities.
Tell us a little bit about your group and research activities.
The ENSO team working at the DARE2X project is composed of: 

• Miguel do Muiño Méndez, environmental Sustainability I+D Researcher at the Eco Bio Technologies Department of ENSO Innovation. With experience at renowned research institutions, his work focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA) and eco-efficiency in agriculture, particularly in the context of new processes and management strategies. Miguel has contributed to international workshops on environmental sustainability in vineyards and has been involved in numerous research projects.
• Carlos Sicre Maside, researcher and Developer, at ENSO. He holds a Chemistry degree and a master’s degree in environmental management. Carlos has experience in LCA & Life Cost Analysis (LCC), he has worked in the plastic sector and is currently involved in various projects within the ECO BIO Technologies team.

Wanting to know more, could you provide more details about your organisation?
ENSO Innovation is a technology-based SME focused on research and development of innovative solutions that help reduce the environmental impact in industry. Committed to sustainability and the circular economy, ENSO optimizes resource use and minimizes waste through advanced technologies and materials. In its research efforts, ENSO focuses on designing new processes, technologies, products, and services that enable industries to reduce their ecological footprint. ENSO not only creates advanced materials and products but also specialises in scaling up innovative industrial processes for large-scale implementation. In this way, ENSO facilitates the transition to more sustainable and efficient production methods. ENSO aims to be a global leader in sustainable technology, leveraging nanotechnology, advanced materials, and biotechnology to address environmental challenges and promote international collaboration for a sustainable future.

Following up, in your opinion, which aspects of your research in DARE2X are the most innovative?
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) are two analyses that normally have all the commercial products at the end of this production, this makes it an additional process and not closely linked to the innovation of the project, however, in DARE2X project it was decided to consider the environmental and costing assessments in parallel enabling the use of profiles of the components and processes to decide the best environmental and economic options. That idea permits the possibility of decision for different viable ways in terms of environment respectful and economic feasibility.

One of the key pillars of implementing the DARE2X solution is to raise awareness about how our disruptive ammonia technology will be safe and sustainable. How will your contribution to DARE2X improve everyday life for society?
The possibility of developing new technologies that not only fulfill a function or a necessity but also enables a transition towards a circular economy with more efficiency and zero waste and propose to society a change of mentality regarding the care and respect for the environment for the future, such as the alternative proposed in the project to the conventional Haber-Bosch process. In this way, our contribution enables DARE2X to demonstrate the environmental benefits of the technology developed, as well as providing a measure of the costs associated with its development and implementation.

Finally, the R&D, innovation, and demonstration of the DARE2X technology involve significant efforts and hard work in the consortium. What are the main challenges in your work in DARE2X?
New technologies often involve innovation, of which we often do not have the exact data to model them, but by understanding the processes, any environmental profile can be realised involving the appropriate processes and materials. In addition, the upscaling of this project involves a great investment of time and effort in order to be able to demonstrate the impacts associated with such a technological project.