Making Money Using CO2

As a result of the inclusion of CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in the traffic and heating sector in national emission trading, taken effect at January 1, 2021, climate change is now also financially noticeable. Regarding this, open questions remain within the industry: Can the costs for companies triggered by CO2 emission pricing be reduced? Is it possible to decrease CO2 discharge by innovative and biointelligent processes or process chains and alongside making money?

CO2 – an almost unlimited “resource“?

The climate gas CO2 is a globally almost unlimited resource in the atmosphere, which can also be extracted from flue gas streams of industrial combustion processes. From the viewpoint of a producing company, a more reliable source of raw material, when atmospheric CO2 is considered, can hardly exist.

To date, the technology of adsorbing atmospheric CO2 from air exists in form of air washers, which for example the Suisse company Climeworks developed recently. Due to the low CO2 concentration (0.04 percent) in the air, the procedure is still energy and cost intensive.

In comparison to the atmosphere, for example, flue gas streams of cement- and steel facilities contain increased CO2 concentrations. Therefore, these point sources provide the opportunity to utilize CO2 as an intermediate in integrated value chains instead of discharging it as a waste product: The challenging waste product of the initial process turns into a useful feedstock for the second process and contributes to added value.

Commercial use of CO2 – the way to go

Here, two economic levers useful for CO2 discharging companies can be identified:

  • On the one hand, cash can be saved by actively reducing CO2 emissions.
  • On the other hand, CO2 can be used for the production of chemical added-value products and platform chemicals for commercial utilization.

A pioneer company developing such technology concepts is the New Zealand company Lanzatech, which produces bioethanol from steel industries’ synthesis gas streams via gas fermentation. In addition, process cascades, which use CO2 and renewably produced hydrogen gas from water electrolysis for production of intermediates such as methanol or formic acid depict an enormously important approach. These processes are often referred to as power-to-X technologies [1].

The IGB approach: Power-to-X-to-Y

Fraunhofer IGB is extending the power-to-X approach towards the power-to-X-to-Y concept, in which the CO2 derived intermediates are further processed in coupled chemical and biotechnological procedures to more complex and higher-value products (Fig.).

Using these techniques, various synthesis routes are accessible for a broad range of chemical products with increased added-value, relying on CO2 as the primary feedstock. In this way, the urgently wanted path to an era of independence from fossil resources is paved.

Extension of the power-to-X approach towards a power-to-X-to-Y concept pursued by Fraunhofer IGB. Initially (power-to-X) the greenhouse gas CO<sub>2</sub> is converted into high-energy intermediates like methanol (CH<sub>3</sub>OH) and formic acid (HCOOH). The application of conjoined chemical or biotechnological processes (X-to-Y), which utilize these intermediates as feedstock enable access to a wide range of products with increased added-value, thus transforming CO<sub>2</sub> into a useful primary resource.
Extension of the power-to-X approach towards a power-to-X-to-Y concept pursued by Fraunhofer IGB. Initially (power-to-X) the greenhouse gas CO2 is converted into high-energy intermediates like methanol (CH3OH) and formic acid (HCOOH). The application of conjoined chemical or biotechnological processes (X-to-Y), which utilize these intermediates as feedstock enable access to a wide range of products with increased added-value, thus transforming CO2 into a useful primary resource.

Literature

[1] Drünert, S.; Neuling, U.; Timmerberg, S. & Kaltschmitt, M. (2019) Power-to-X (PtX) aus „Überschussstrom“ in Deutschland – Ökonomische Analyse, Zeitschrift für Energiewirtschaft 43: 173-191

Blog series "Making money with CO2"

"Making money using CO2" is the topic of a series on our Biointelligence blog to provide answers and opportunities for the commercial use of CO2 from industrial processes. The blog posts are available in German only.

 

Authors portrait: Dr. Jonathan Fabarius

Reference projects

 

April 2021 – December 2021

EVOBIO-Demo

Technologies for the wastewater treatment plant of the future

Green methanol can be produced easily from CO2 and renewable energy. The joint research project EVOBIO, funded by the BMBF and Fraunhofer, was continued in the follow-up project EVOBIO-Demo by a Fraunhofer consortium consisting of the Fraunhofer institutes IGB, UMSICHT and IMW. Here, the focus is on the further development of a biotechnological production route for an organic acid from methanol.

 

August 2020 – December 2020

EVOBIO

Evolutionary bioeconomic processes – Integrative use of material flows to produce optimized materials for innovative products in bioeconomic process cycles

Production processes lead to harmful emissions and non-recyclable waste and wastewater. In the EVOBIO project, process concepts were therefore developed and exemplarily demonstrated in order to be able to utilize material flows, materials and products completely – in resource-conserving process cycles and through reuse without residues.

 

March 2016 – November 2019

CELBICON

Cost-effective carbon dioxide conversion into chemicals

Processes to utilize the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) will be a central building block of a future climate-neutral and resource-efficient circular economy. Researchers from Fraunhofer IGB have developed and validated such a process chain in collaboration with partners from academia and industry in the course of the EU-funded project CELBICON.