COMETNANO was an EU-funded, 3-year project focusing on the evaluation of metallic nanoparticles as potential fuels for Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs). It was an integrated approach studying the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, their controlled combustion under realistic conditions and the recycling of such spent fuels by renewable means. The project entails:

• The production of tailor-made metal fuel nanoparticles with controllable combustion rates.
• The utilization of an environmental-friendly way for the recycling of burned residual particles, employing 100% renewable energy technology. Under such a concept, metal particles become an energy carrier and a means of converting renewable energy into a medium that can be stored and transported easier and safer.
• The innovative exploitation of low-cost raw materials, such as discarded fractions/wastes or by-products of metal industries, for the production of the metallic nanoparticles.
• The introduction of required modifications, based on the existing mature technology of conventional ICEs, for the definition of the first metal-fuelled ICE.
• The investigation of any potential environmental and health dangers of the new technology and the design of abatement measures.