A Passion for Solutions: The Engineer's Perspective

At the heart of Francesca di Mare’s work is a fundamental engineering drive: "to make things better for my fellow human beings." From her Chair at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, she has spent quite some time exploring the way thermodynamics affects working fluids in fluid energy machines, particularly CO2.

What began as a scientific fascination with its "strange and interesting" behavior in supercritical states has evolved into many research activities dedicated to solving some of society's most complex challenges.

"As engineers, we always leave a footprint in the environment," she explains. "It's only our duty to try and wipe them out or at least try and reduce them"

This sense of responsibility is what fuels her passion for contributing to the development of the very technologies ECCSEL supports.

The "German Structure": A Unique Force for Innovation

Germany's contribution to ECCSEL is not just one institution, but a powerful, multi-layered alliance of eight national research institutions and two major industrial players, coordinated by Ruhr-Universität Bochum in the heart of the Ruhr Valley—Europe's historic energetic core, together with Technische Universität Darmstadt. Prof. di Mare highlights this as a unique German strength.

"I think it has a very strong meaning that the Ruhr University Bochum has been awarded the honor of coordinating together with the Darmstadt Technical University" she says, linking the region's industrial past to its future in sustainable technology.

This structure, she explains, seamlessly intertwines universities, large research organizations like the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and major industrial stakeholders. It is designed to take an idea from "TRL 0 to TRL 9."

This collaborative ecosystem ensures that fundamental research is directly connected to the practical challenges of industrial deployment, creating a powerful engine for innovation across the entire carbon management life cycle.

Why ECCSEL? A Pan-European Imperative

"Infrastructural problems cannot be solved nationally alone," Prof. di Mare asserts.

Joining ECCSEL provides the German R&D landscape with access to a vast network of over 130 specialized facilities, preventing costly duplication and fostering cross-border synergies. More importantly, it integrates Germany into a unified European strategy.

"We have to work with other people, with other nations, in order to generate something that is destined to last," she says.

As the German Node Lead, her vision is clear: to integrate Germany’s industrial players more deeply into the network and to strengthen the collaborative research that will drive down costs and accelerate deployment. "I would really like to see, at the end of the five years, more and more industrial campuses and activity in DAC joining in beside the RWE facilities."

A New Momentum for Europe

With Germany's entry, ECCSEL solidifies its position as the world's leading research infrastructure for climate technologies. For Francesca di Mare and the German consortium, this is more than a membership; it's a commitment to a shared European future. It's about combining German engineering precision with pan-European collaboration to tackle a global problem head-on.

"We are ready, and I am personally very happy to now be part of this adventure."