Tue, 03 May, 2022
TWI has joined five other organisations for the CoCaCo2la project, which aims to assist the drive towards Net Zero by converting CO2 to ethylene.
The UK, the EU and the USA have all committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with the UK being the world’s first major economy to pass laws that decreed it would end its contribution to global warming by 2050.
While the UK has already reduced emissions by 42%, more work needs to be done to reach the net zero target and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is likely to be a key technology in achieving this.
The CoCaCo2la project will use flexible, tuneable CO2 electrolysers to convert CO2 into ethylene (C2H4) on demand using a nanostructured copper catalyst, while also harnessing excess renewable energy at times of grid overload and low or negative energy prices. The converted ethylene can also then be used for processes such as the production of polyethylene.
The threefold benefits of providing flexibility to the grid, generating value-added chemicals and reducing CO2 emissions will deliver benefits for the environment, industry and the power industry.
TWI is joined by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), USA, the University of Leicester (ULEIC), UK, the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Greece, Technovative Solutions Limited (TVS), UK, and Pilkington Technology Management Limited (PTML), UK.
The EU’s Accelerating CCS Technologies (ACT) programme is an international initiative to establish CCUS as a tool to combat global warming. It provides funding for research and innovation projects that can lead to safe and cost-effective CCUS technology. ACT partners include the Province of Alberta, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and the USA.
The UK element of ACT is funded from the BEIS Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. ACT 3 provides £5m in grant funding for CCUS developers to expand on their research & development to further develop their technologies towards commercialisation. The £5m provided by the UK will contribute to a total funding pot of around £40m (including in-kind and industry funds), of which around £25m is being provided by ACT partners.
You can see the BEIS webpage for ACT 3 projects here, and find out more about how the government is investing in energy technologies of the future, here.
The CoCaCo2la project has received £518,777.19 in funding from BEIS under the UK ACT ERA-NET EC GA 691712. This funding has been made available from the Government’s £1 Billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.to provide key innovation to develop technologies needed to tackle climate change.