e-Chem project will help create a "clean" factory through the electrolysis of carbon dioxide

“Electrification of the chemical industry opens up great opportunities for the Netherlands in the field of

high-tech systems for energy transmission.And where better to develop such solutions than here in Delft, next to Botlek, the largest petrochemical center. e-Chem, together with other scientific institutions, is now looking to build large-scale plants that will convert CO2 from air into the three main building blocks for the chemical industry using electrolysis at industrial scale and at competitive prices: methanol, ethylene and kerosene. We are the first to build such large-scale factories. We decided to just go for it and we'll learn by doing. This is the approach that will allow us to accelerate,” said Ruud van Ommen (e-Refinery) and Martin de Graaf (VoltaChem).

The principle of electrolysis has been known for a long time.A container with a liquid that conducts electricity is used. Gaseous CO2 passes through it. Two metal plates coated with a catalyst are placed in the container. Voltage is applied to them. Electric current flows from one plate to another directly through the gas-liquid mixture. This current breaks the chemical bonds between carbon and oxygen and between the molecules that make up the liquid, thus forming new substances.

According to Ruud van Ommen and Martijn de Graaff,Before this technology can be widely applied in the chemical industry, several more problems must be solved. “We are going to build plants that produce from 50 to 100 liters of product per day. To do this, we need to develop stable systems capable of producing the same quality product at the same rate over many years. We also want to use electricity generated by wind turbines or solar panels. But these are unstable sources. It is worth considering how an unstable power supply can affect the production capacity of such a plant.”

Another problem is the expansion of production,explains Van Ommen. “When it comes to traditional chemical production, you just make the reactor vessel bigger. With an electrochemical process, for technical reasons, you have a fixed distance between two metal plates and a maximum reactor vessel height. So you can only increase production by using more plates or by making them wider.”

“The use of CO2 from the air as a feedstock isit's a conscious choice,” de Graaff says. “Because factories are already reducing their CO2 emissions, we believe that this source of CO2 will gradually disappear. It is no coincidence that the choice fell on such products as methanol, ethylene and kerosene. Ethylene and methanol have many possible uses, from plastics to tablets,” says De Graaff. - As for fuel, we also tried to determine the most promising economic direction. For passenger transport, there are options to switch to batteries or hydrogen. But for aviation, kerosene will probably remain indispensable for a long time to come. A cleaner manufacturing process is also desirable in this industry.” Both researchers emphasize that e-Chem emerged from a shared desire to accelerate the transition of the fossil-based chemical industry to a sector based on sustainable electricity and CO2. “The market is not going to do this on its own. And the forces of two companies will not succeed either. Therefore, we encourage other industrial partners to join us,” stressed Martin de Graaff.

The shortage of oil and gas leads to an increase in prices notonly for gas and gasoline, but also for plastics, medicines and cosmetics. To make society less dependent on fossil fuels and fight climate change, the chemical industry must radically change. Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, society must become carbon neutral by 2050. It is impossible to achieve this goal without a radical change in the chemical industry. One option is to extract CO2 from the air and convert it into a feedstock for plastics and fuels, including using sustainably generated electricity. Delft University of Technology and TNO have laid the foundation for cleaner production processes in the chemical industry. The new e-Chem partnership has taken it one step further by building the clean factory of the future.

Read more:

After ten years of work, scientists questioned the Standard Model of physics

MIT builds stationary heat engine that outperforms turbines

Startup has created tiny robots that work in the human brain