Recently, many projects on CO2-based fuel and chemical production, as well as efficient capture and utilisation technologies were launched by both start-ups and established companies, ranging from pilot over demonstration to commercial scale. Even more players are now expressing interest in getting involved in this field. Great visions are becoming real business cases and companies are starting to realise their potential. 
 
The advisory board of the ‘9th Conference on CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals’, held online from March 23–24, nominated six promising technologies from four different countries for the innovation award ‘Best CO2 Utilisation 2021. These technologies turn CO2 into value: ethanol, methanol, polyols, surfactants or syngas.
 
The innovation award was presented for the third time, and is sponsored by YNCORIS (Germany) and organised by nova-Institute (Germany) and CO2 Value Europe (Brussels).
 
The audience choose three winners, who included:
 
• Carbon Recycling International (Iceland): Emissions-to-Liquids Technology
 
Carbon Recycling International (CRI) has been developing its Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) technology since 2006. CRI's first industrial demonstration plant was commissioned in Iceland in 2012. It has a capacity of 4,000 tonnes methanol per year.
 
ETL converts CO2 and hydrogen into methanol in a one-step reaction. In 2020 the company moved from industrial demonstration scale to full commercial scale with a project in Anyang, Henan province, China.
 
A plant, which will have a capacity of 110,000 tonnes methanol per year, will be commissioned in 2021. This represents an important step for CO2 hydrogenation projects worldwide. The CO2-based methanol is used for gasoline blending, biodiesel esterification, fuel cell operation, waste-water denitrification and chemicals production.
 
More information can be found at www.carbonrecycling.is
 
• LanzaTech (USA): CarbonSmart Ethanol
 
The CarbonSmart Ethanol technology relates to capturing carbon and creating value from waste; effectively turning pollution into products. LanzaTech uses microorganisms to make ethanol from the carbon emissions of industrial processes like steel, syngas from municipal solid waste, waste wood or waste plastics.
 
Ethanol is a chemical building block that can be used to produce a broad range of everyday products from household cleaning products, plastic shampoo bottles, furniture and toys, to fine fragrances and sporting goods.
 
With a commercial plant in China that has produced over 20,000 tonnes of ethanol and mitigated over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 since 2018 and the first EU plant in Belgium in 2021, the technology is rapidly gaining traction in the market.
 
More information can be found at www.lanzatech.com
 
• Covestro (Germany): Washing with CO -Technology – Surfactants based on CO
 
CO2 instead of petroleum – Covestro is pursuing new avenues for turning the waste gas into a useful raw material. The goal is to use CO2 as resource in as many applications as possible. And the next scope is here to come: Surfactants based on CO2! First application tests have shown that these CO2-based surfactants can be used in a standard detergent formulation. 
 
The product development process is still in progress and the boundary conditions are already set: less fossil-based, less global warming potential, readily biodegradable and comparable washing performance – a new class of more sustainable surfactants for the everyday businesses. 
 
More information can be found at www.covestro.de
 
The other three nominees were bse Methanol (Germany): FlexMethanol; UR One (Canada): Dissociation of Greenhouse Gas Oxides using Plaron Technology; and Dimensional Energy (USA): HI-Light Reactor Platform. 
 
The transition to direct CO2 utilisation as one alternative carbon source is needed to substitute fossil resources and to shift towards sustainable and climate-friendly production, paving the path to a circular economy and counteracting climate change. 
 
Carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) is one of the most obvious solutions to further reduce CO2 emissions, but it is yet still hardly exploited. CCU technologies represent an essential contribution to a renewable carbon industry. –Tradearabia News Service