Category: Project News

Carbon Capture and electrochemical Utilization of CO2 – From research to industrial application

Without a substantial contribution from all economic sectors the net-zero climate protection targets cannot be achieved. Fossil feedstock for the chemical industry and fossil fuels for long-distance transport must be substituted. Therefore, the reduction of CO₂ emissions by carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and an intersectoral carbon cycle economy will be crucial in the transformation of the future supply systems. Very promising are electrochemical synthesis technologies to produce fuels and base chemicals from water, renewable electricity, and captured CO₂ as they avoid the effort of high synthesis temperatures and pressures.

In contradiction, the conventional thermochemical synthesis routes based on CO₂ and electrolytically produced H2 typically require temperatures >300°C and pressures >20bar for the reverse-water gas-shift reaction and consecutive reaction steps. Additionally, eCCU reduces the need for a H₂ infrastructure and the coupling of renewable power generation and carbon utilisation offers carbon-neutral chemicals and fuels, security of supply, grid stability, and emission reduction. 

Twenty-two partners from nine countries representing industry, research institutes, and universities are advancing the electrochemical CO₂ utilisation in the three European-funded projects LOTER.CO2M, ECO2Fuel and OCEAN by demonstrating the complete technology chains at RWE’s Innovation Center at Niederaussem, comprising post-combustion CO₂ capture and its utilisation in the electrochemical synthesis units of:

Critical Raw Material-free Low-Temperature Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ to Methanol The 5 kW demonstrator of LOTER.CO2M uses advanced, low-cost electrocatalysts and membranes for the direct electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to methanol and ethanol by low-temperature CO₂-H₂O co-electrolysis. LOTER.CO2M passes the baton on to the follow-up project ECO2Fuel.

Large-scale low-temperature electrochemical CO₂ Conversion to sustainable liquid fuels ECO2Fuel aims to design, manufacture, operate, and validate the worldwide first low-temperature 1 MW direct, electrochemical CO₂ conversion system to produce sustainable liquid e-fuels (C1-C4 alcohols) under industrially relevant conditions.

Oxalic acid from CO₂ using electrochemistry at demonstration scale The 6 kW unit of OCEAN demonstrates an innovative tandem electro-synthesis: Potassium formate is produced simultaneously at both electrodes of the electrochemical cell, cathode and anode. At the anode, glycerol – a by-product of the biodiesel production – is the resource. At the cathode CO₂ is the feedstock. In consecutive processes oxalic acid can be produced from the formate.

The eCCU³ Workshop brings together the international experts from the three European demonstration projects, scientists from various research fields, and the public. It will provide a broad overview of the progress and potential of eCCU. The attendees can follow six presentations on all aspects of electrochemical CO₂ utilisation and have the opportunity to discuss the status and prospects of the technology.

The three projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreements No 767798 (OCEAN), 761093 (LOTER.CO2M) and 101037389 (ECO2Fuel).

The ECO2Fuel project will therefore consolidate the EU’s first-mover advantage in the green technology sector and strengthen its competitiveness with an innovative and disruptive technology to meet its emission targets by 2050.

The radical reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will require actions in all sectors that are inherently different and difficult, asking for an almost total re-thinking of our day-to-day energy management. This is how LOTER.CO2M was born.

Droughts and wildfires, freshwater shortages, floods, pests and invasive species, food and water wars, and climate migration are just some of the threats we face today with climate change in Europe.

As a forerunner in environmental protection worldwide, the European Union attempts to pull the plug on global warming with its many initiatives, especially the Green Deal. With its 2030 Climate Target Plan under the Green Deal, the European Commission proposes raising the EU’s ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.

However, this radical reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will require actions in all sectors that are inherently different and difficult, asking for an almost total re-thinking of our day-to-day energy management. This increases the hurdle to achieving efficient decarbonisation cost-effectively on time. And while it is true that a green carbon-neutral future isn’t achievable without implementing significant changes, we need to have low-threshold solutions allowing us to kickstart the transition without larger sacrifices to our everyday life quality.

With this in mind, we initiated LOTER.CO2M (This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 under the Grant Agreement number 761093) in 2018 attempting to convert CO2 with renewable electricity and water into carbon-neutral fuels and value-added chemicals in a single step without the need for hydrogen.

By doing this we replace the fossil carbon in fuels and critical chemicals with renewable, recycled carbon from CO2 and ease the transition to a carbon-neutral future without any compromises.

In three years of intensive research and development with partners from the industry (RWE, Bekaert, JohnsonMatthey EWII, and research organisations DLR, CNR, VITO, UVP and DTU) we developed critical raw material free catalysts, membranes, stack and a functioning 5kW CO2 electrolyzer and raised the technological readiness level from three to five.

Today, the electroylzer is operated at RWE in Niederaußem with waste CO2 and renewable electricity to efficiently generate carbon-neutral fuels (mainly carbon monoxide, methane, and ethylene).

Following this success story aiming to further our contribution to the EU’s climate target plan, we head out to upscale the LOTER.CO2M technology to build the world’s first direct CO2 electrolyzer at a 1MW scale and received the support of the European Union. As of October 2021, experts from 15 international organizations from industry and research are working together in the ECO2Fuel project to lift the LOTER.CO2M’s technology readiness level from 5 to 7 and push it toward commercialization for a greener and fossil fuel independent future.

The 1MW ECO2Fuel CO2 electrolyzer will convert 229 tons of CO2 to carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals considering a direct connection to renewable energy sources with an operation time of 2701 hours/year, which translates to converting 85kg of CO2 per hour.

The ECO2Fuel project will therefore consolidate the EU’s first-mover advantage in the green technology sector and strengthen its competitiveness with an innovative and disruptive technology to meet its emission targets by 2050.