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The ECO2Fuel project partner selection allows fulfilling the green deal work program’s requirements on the industrial symbiosis and circular economy, as each partner has been chosen strategically to develop a zero waste technology.

With the partner MONOLITHOS Catalysts & Recycling Ltd’s. we will be transferring the production of one of the key components of the ECO2fuel electrolyser, the catalyst, from labscale to industrialscale via an efficient and  environmentally friendly synthesis technique.

In parallel, Monolithos will investigate and develop the recycling of these catalysts by their proprietary hydrometallurgical leaching method.

In ECO2Fuel we want to go beyond the circular economy of the materials that are used to make up the system.

Make, Use, Recycle!

„ECO2Fuel is not only about recycling carbon from CO2 but the smart development, scale-up, implementation, and recycling of the critical components and the optimised use of the produced fuels and chemicals.“, says Dr. Anastasia Moschovi, Material Scientist and Head of R&I Department at Monolithos.

With Monolithos and several other partners, we will investigate how to implement the #carbonneutral fuels in the transportsector.

The industrial implementation of direct low-temperature electrochemical CO2 reduction without the need for hydrogen has been reported as a promising technology to recycle carbon dioxide into sustainable, carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals which are the solution to minimizing the carbon footprint of hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications.

However, direct electrolysis of CO2 never escaped the labs of the world’s universities and research facilities due to many challenges that prevented an upscale of the technology to a meaningful level.

This made it difficult to estimate their performance at industrial sizes until the LOTER.CO2M project in which we proved that a direct electrochemical reduction of CO2 is indeed a very promising technology to recycle carbon from CO2 and convert it into carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals at a 5kW scale. 

In ECO2Fuel, we will take this technology multiple steps further by upscaling it to 1 MW, allowing the conversion of CO2 at an industrial scale into carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals.

VITO is a leading European independent research/consultancy centre active in cleantech and sustainable development, finding solutions for the grand societal challenges of tomorrow.

“It is crucial to assess the full sustainability impact, including economic, environmental and social aspects, early in the development phase. Setting clear sustainability targets will contribute to the success of the ECO2Fuel project and the implementation of the electrochemical CO2 reduction system.“, says Dr. Miet Van Dael, Researcher at VITO.

In ECO2Fuel VITO is responsible for the design, engineering and construction of the demonstration pilot for the conversion of CO2 to methanol. The research focus of the electro chemistry team at VITO has been the development of low cost and efficient electrodes and membranes.

VITO will also be responsible for the full sustainability assessment of the ECO2Fuel value chain.

Understanding of electrode and catalyst properties is essential for the development of successful electrochemical CO2 reduction systems.

The ambitious goals in ECO2Fuel will boost research in that area and generate important knowledge for the „carbon dioxide reduction reaction“ community – says Simon Geiger, management board member of the ECO2Fuel project.

15 international partners from the chemical, energy, hydrogen, mechanical engineering and automotive industry, and several research institutions set out to contribute to the goal for carbon neutrality and climate resilience in Europe by building the worldwide first CO2 conversion system to convert 742 tons of CO2 per year into economic and sustainable liquid e-fuels and chemicals. 

It also makes up our contemporary world and drives innovations. 

Carbon is responsible for almost everything
🚗 from the fuels we run our cars on,
👟 the cushy spring in our running shoes,
📱 your favourite electronics,
🏠 building materials,
🔌 and electric car parts.

Yet, the problem we face today is that we use mainly fossil fuels as the primary carbon source, emitting CO2 and accelerating climate change.

The ECO2Fuel project will change this paradigm by deriving carbon from CO2 instead of fossil fuels. 

By replacing fossil carbon in fuels and chemicals with recycled carbon from CO2, we can remove emissions from thousands of essential items, set new standards for the industry, and prevent further CO2 emissions.

15 international partners will build the worldwide first low-temperature 1MW direct, electrochemical CO2 conversion system to produce economic and sustainable liquid e-fuels.

With the international consortium of ECO2Fuel from Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Greece and the Netherlands, we will be driving the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction towards commercialization in the coming five years, assuring the leading position of the EU in developing green technologies for a brighter future, says Dr. Schwan Hosseiny, Project Coordinator at DLR.

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V.
RWE
Bekaert
De Nora
HyGear
ARIEMA Energía y Medioambiente S.L.
Monolithos Ltd.
HYDROLITE
Think11
META
CENTRO RICERCHE FIAT SCPA
DTU – Technical University of Denmark
Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
VITO