KETs Impact: CO2 as a raw material – The Carbon4PUR Project

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

Our third highlighted success story features the use of CO2 as an alternative feedstock for the chemical industry. The article highlights a number of projects undertaken by Covestro with German government funding and European projects enCO2re, funded by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), and the SPIRE Horizon 2020 project Carbon4PUR that looks to turn industrial waste gases (mixed CO/CO2 streams) from energy intensive steel mills into intermediates for polyurethane plastics used for rigid foams, building insulation, coatings and other consumer products.

Carbon dioxide as a raw material for plastics

Innovative process technology reduces petroleum use

Availability of combined public funding appears crucial to mitigate the high risk of early research and complement own expertise with partnerships along the value chain.

Covestro has been working for many years on the development of technologies to turn CO2 into a valuable resource and for its implementation in making polymers. This “waste” gas is an alternative source of carbon and can substitute fossil raw materials and be used to make building blocks for polyols – a key starting material for polyurethanes. The first breakthrough came when Covestro’s researchers discovered the right catalyst and process for an economically and ecologically efficient reaction. As a first product stemming from the newly developed technology, CO2-based polyols for flexible foam found in mattresses and upholstered furniture are already on the market. Other kinds of products for further applications are under development – for example to obtain chemical building blocks and polymer intermediates for rigid foams and coatings to be applied in building insulation and coatings. The new technology, currently under investigation, is expected to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 by 2020. The next step, after 2022, might be building an industrial plant for the production of CO2-based chemicals at large scale.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

Partnerships between research-based companies and application-oriented research organisations along the value chain are the key to success. With a portfolio of collaboration projects, expertise can be built up starting from low TRL levels. At Covestro, first samples of CO2-based polyols were produced on a mini-plant scale after only three years. Five years later, a demonstration plant with the capacity of 5,000 metric tons/year went on stream. To reach high impact, private investments have been complemented by public funding obtained from both German national sources and EU funds. 

Impact

With the new technology, the use of petroleum can already be reduced by up to 20% in the case of CO2-based foams and 25% in case of elastomers. Also, the carbon footprint is better than with conventional processes. In the latest project, substantial reduction of process energy consumption is also expected by as much as 70%. This is an important contribution to sustainability and achieving the circular economy and helps to close the CO2 loop. 

More information
Carbon4PUR - Turning industrial waste gases (mixed CO/CO2 streams) into intermediates for polyurethane plastics for rigid foams/building insulation and coatings (Horizon 2020/ SPIRE GA 768919)

enCO2re flagship project CroCO2PETs (Climate-KIC / European Institute of Innovation and Technology)

r+impuls Production Dreams (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 033R150)

CO2Plus Dream Resource (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 033RC002)

MatRessource Dream Polyols (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 03XP0052)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Register now for final CarbonNext event!

The final event for the SPIRE project CarbonNext will be held on Tuesday 17 July at the Commission’s Covent Garden Building in Brussels. This is the perfect opportunity to learn about the potential of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide as alternative carbon feedstocks for the European industry, but be quick as registration officially closes today – 6 July 2018.

The two-year SPIRE/ Horizon 2020 CSA project CarbonNext addresses alternative carbon feedstocks for the process industry with a specific focus on the use of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

The final event will discuss the potential of these alternative feedstocks for the European industry. It will present the project’s findings and current relevant initiatives at European and Member states level.

The final conference will have speakers from industry, academia as well as policy makers from the European Commission. The main results from CarbonNext will be accompanied by presentations from industrial representatives to show the relevance and transfer of scientific results and industrial needs and to discuss ecological challenges and the economic potential behind the identified opportunities. 

Presentations include the SusChem inspired PHOENIX initiative and ‘CO2 as an alternative feedstock for sustainable chemistry’ from SusChem board member Pierre Barthelemy of Cefic.

Learn more about the whole carbon value chain – from mapping of CO/CO2 all over Europe, identified processes and products where alternative carbon sources can be used – and get in touch with an interdisciplinary network of CCU stakeholders.

The event will also provide the perfect opportunity to debate gaps and research needs in this domain, as well as timelines and roadmaps, with an eye on potential relevant activities in the framework of the upcoming Research and Innovation framework programme Horizon Europe.

If you are interested to join, please register as soon as possible!

PHOENIX: A European Integrated Approach to CO2 Valorisation

Join the launch event of the PHEONIX initiative during the EU Industry Days on 22 February at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Brussels. The PHOENIX initiative aims to facilitate the development and deployment of CO2 valorisation technologies at both European and national level. Interested? Register now! Registration will close on 8 February 2018.

Carbon is an essential part of a wide range of products we depend on, including our food, chemicals and materials, and which we currently derive mostly from fossil fuel sources. To ensure more sustainable production in and from Europe, we must consider alternative carbon sources, such as carbon dioxide (CO2).

“CO2 is abundant and available in the form of industrial point sources all over Europe. Recycling carbon from CO2 for a more sustainable production of chemicals, materials, fuels and biomass needs to be part of our European strategy towards radically reduced carbon emissions in a more circular economy,” says Sophie Wilmet, Innovation Counsellor at Cefic.

CO2 valorisation can be beneficial for multiple sectors including, chemicals, transport, cement and renewable electricity. It can also contribute to Europe’s industrial leadership in clean technologies, stimulate growth and pave the way to a low carbon economy.

You can read more about chemical valorisation of CO2 in Europe here.

Launching PHOENIX
The PHOENIX initiative will be officially launched on the afternoon of 22 February during the EU Industry Days event in Brussels organised by the European Commission.

During the event, the PHOENIX initiative will be introduced to all interested stakeholders from the private and public sectors in an interactive session. This will include an exchange on the value of an integrated European approach on CO2 valorisation to transform technology developments into real benefits for Europe. In addition, there will be short presentations from industry to showcase the variety of CO2 valorisation projects already ongoing in Europe including mineralization, CO2 to chemicals, CO2 valorisation for renewable energy storage etc.

“The impact of CO2 valorisation in Europe will depend on having ensured support for breakthrough technology development, willingness to share risk and an appropriate sustainability-based policy framework,” concludes Sophie.

Four Members States - France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain - that have jointly started the PHOENIX initiative in close collaboration with Cefic are inviting other Member States to join and engage their stakeholders.

This interactive stakeholder workshop will be held on 22 February 2018 from 14.30 to 16.00 in Brussels during the EU Industry days Event.

Registration and more information
Registration for the event is open until 8 February. You can register now here and you can obtain more information on the EU Industry Days event here.

EU Industry Day will update stakeholders on the Commission's strategic approach to industrial policy and actions to further develop industrial competitiveness in Europe.

It will also be a forum where stakeholders contributing to European industrial competitiveness can showcase their activities, learn from each other, discuss cross-cutting issues and develop joint visions for the future.

Attendees will come from a variety of industrial sectors, finance, research and innovation, government and public administration.

The main event in Brussels, Belgium on 22-23 of February will be a high-level conference with many key experts and a number of stakeholder workshops including the PHEONIX initiative.

Solar-Driven Chemistry: A New Paradigm?

At present, despite advances in the production and diversity of biobased products and the increasing use of renewable energy sources, the chemical industry depends largely on fossil carbon resources for its main energy source and feedstock. A new White Paper launched by EuCheMS and DFG on 12 September at the 6th European Chemical Congress shows how it could be possible to drive chemical reactions using the energy of the sun and help guarantee a sustainable future.

This vision of solar-driven chemistry offers a long-term innovative scientific and technological endeavour to achieve sustainable chemical production through “recycling” carbon by converting CO2 into chemicals, materials and fuels.

Such #useCO2 approaches are also a medium to long-term research and innovation priority of SusChem and are featured in the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). SusChem inspired #useCO2 calls have been included in Horizon 2020 work programmes including those developed through the SPIRE PPP such as SPIRE calls 05-2016 and 08-2017.

The report was published in the same week as the 14th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (CDU) was being held at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Today (15 September) on the final day of the conference Pierre Barthélemy, Executive Director, Research and Innovation at Cefic, will contribute to a CO2 Forum panel on 'Impacts, Policies And Strategies of CDU'. He will argue that beyond research and innovation challenges successful industrial deployment of #useCO2 technologies will require high levels of industrial symbiosis, significant investment and the right policy framework to deliver the desired impact.

Solar vision

The 'Solar-Driven Chemistry: A Vision for Sustainable Chemistry Production' paper describes how the primary feedstocks for solar-driven chemistry are water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, while the main products would be molecular hydrogen and a series of carbon-based chemical compounds obtained through the simultaneous reduction of CO2.

Such solar-driven chemistry is a visionary concept, for which many scientific and technical problems remain to be solved. Technology transfer from fundamental chemical research to industrial applications can take decades, however, intermediate short- and medium-term objectives, which are necessary to enable the long-term goal, can also generate new knowledge, which will provide wider benefits to society and an improvement to industrial competitiveness, claims the paper.

Radical paradigm

The paper claims that solar-driven chemistry could be a radical paradigm shift in chemical production, which could have a high, positive impact on the competitiveness and sustainability of European industry. It has the potential to contribute significantly to a fossil-independent supply of feedstock for the chemical industry and to greener fuels for all applications. Solar-driven chemistry can create knowledge-driven competitiveness for Europe’s industrial production, while preserving jobs and the environment.

In order to accomplish this ambitious goal, a broad and inclusive action driven by the chemical science community is needed that requires a large integrated and synergistic approach covering catalysis, electrochemistry, photochemistry, nanosciences, in concert with semiconductor physics, engineering, biosciences and social sciences. Implementation of solar-driven chemistry is a big challenge, but one that could have a high impact for future generations, not only in science, industry and economy, but also within society as a whole, the paper concludes.

More information

The document is based on the presentations from a brainstorming workshop on ‘Solar-driven Chemistry’ that took place on 9 October 2015 in Berlin jointly organised by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS).

DFG is the self-governing organisation for funding science and research in Germany whose membership includes German research universities, non-university research institutions, scientific associations and the Academies of Science and the Humanities.

EuCheMS aims to nurture a platform for scientific discussion and to provide a single, unbiased European voice on key policy issues in chemistry and related fields.

Wanted: Ideas for re-using CO2

The Climate-KIC flagship programme EnCO2re (Enabling CO2 re-use) working for sustainable production and circular economy has launched its first open call for proposals to the public. This call is aimed at projects that will begin in September (or earlier) and produce meaningful results within 2016. The selection process is two part, but to take part you need to be quick as the first submission deadline is 27 May.

EnCO2re will add new workstreams in the second half of 2016 and is looking for:

• Projects related to any element of the CO2 value chain, from capture to conversion, and logistics
• Organisations that bring industrial and/or start-up perspectives with pathways to commercialisation
• Technologies and demonstrations for CO2-based products, especially intermediates and polymers
• Business-model innovations that support the development of a CO2 re-use value chain
• Other innovations, including incentives, that advance progress toward large-scale re-use of CO2

Two phase
The call is structured in two phases. The first phase requests a short Expression of Interest using a common template by 27 May.  In the EnCO2re Call profile you can find more details on the call.  You will find some help and guidelines for completing the EoI here.  Successful ideas that meet the call interests and requirements will be invited soon after 10 June to submit a full proposal by 1 July.

Because the programme is an open innovation programme and would like to be as inclusive as possible, all parties interested in joining enCO2re are urged to submit an EoI, even if they do not have a project that can begin in 2016.  All submissions should be emailed to Ted Grozier at Climate-KIC.

About EnCO2re
EnCO2re is an innovation and market development programme for CO2 re-use. Their vision is a balanced and prosperous market for re-used CO2, beginning with a focus on polymers and chemical intermediates. Their ambition is large-scale CO2 re-use through the establishment of a CO2 value chain.

EnCO2re was co-initiated by Climate-KIC and industry partner Covestro, forming a consortium of 12 European partners from industry and research sectors. The programme has a comprehensive approach towards CO2 re-use and comprises activities in technology development, product development, technology acceptance, ecological assessments and market development.

EnCO2re is pronounced like the French word encore, meaning “again,” in reference to the re-use of CO2 the programme aims to enable.

The initial open innovation consortium consists of 12 European partners: Bayer Technology Services, Chalmers University of Technology, Covestro, Imperial College London, Johanneberg Science Park, Engie Labs, Mines ParisTech, RWTH Aachen, TU Berlin, TU Delft, University of Copenhagen and Wuppertal Institut.

Six Model EU Regions to lead way towards Sustainable Chemical Industry

The European Commission has selected six 'model regions' to lead the way towards a sustainable EU chemical industry. The announcement (on 26 January 2016) of the selection of the six model regions in the field of sustainable chemicals production kicks off the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service which met for the first time this week. And Cefic and SusChem will be helping to deliver support to the selected regions.

The six 'model demonstrator regions' in Europe are Andalusia (Spain), Groningen-Drenthe (The Netherlands), Kosice (Slovakia), Scotland (United Kingdom), South and Eastern Ireland (Ireland) and Wallonia (Belgium).

The regions have been selected from 28 applicants from EU regions, and will receive advisory support from the 'European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service' (ESCS) – a consortium led by the European Commission and CIRCE (the Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption). Cefic and SusChem will work with CIRCE and other partners to provide support to the six selected regions.

The aim of the initiative is to encourage investments in sustainable chemicals production in Europe that will contribute to the development of the circular economy, for example by taking advantage of domestically available feedstock such as biomass, waste or CO2.

Cefic and SusChem have been very supportive of collaboration within and between chemical regions based on concepts such as Industrial Symbiosis. This was demonstrated by Cefic-SusChem participation in the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) FP7 project and expressed in the SusChem position paper on Circular Economy (see below). Participation in this tender continues and expands this support.

Call background
In a call for the expression of interest in September 2015, the Commission asked for applications from regional organisations interested in developing ambitious strategies to support sustainable chemicals in Europe. The final aim is to attract new investments in industrial projects in the chemicals sector, thereby also contributing to the industry policy objective of raising the GDP share of manufacturing in Europe. The call also intended to lead to further development of coherent policies, such as those related to the circular economy and low carbon economy, industrial symbiosis as well as removing investment bottlenecks.

The applications submitted clearly show the commitment of many regions in Europe to move towards circular economy and low carbon economy models, by using renewable resources for chemicals production. Experiences from the initiative will be shared with other interested European regions, to boost cooperation between the chemicals sector and other sectors, like agriculture, forestry, energy intensive industries, waste management and recycling.

SusChem and the circular economy

Since its inception in 2004 SusChem has inspired numerous research and innovation activities that address major European societal issues. SusChem’s solutions are based on sustainable enabling technologies developed by the chemical industry and its partners in academia, research and technology organisations, and other industrial players from a wide variety of different value-chains and sectors. Many of these technologies are essential to the implementation of a sustainable circular economy.

In October 2015 SusChem published a position paper on the Circular Economy. You can download the paper here.

The paper has three main messages:

A sustainability-based approach is needed
The integration of all aspects of sustainability is essential to the development of a circular economy in order to effectively ensure a positive impact on society while minimising environmental impact and maintaining economic growth.

Technology development is required for a sustainable circular economy
A circular economy cannot be achieved only through implementation of new regulations, services and business models.  Advanced technologies are essential to enable a better use of existing resources along the whole life cycle to develop new production and recycling paths – and the expertise of the chemical industry as a material supplier is highly valuable and important here. In particular SusChem believes that the principle technology developments should take place in the following three areas:

• Utilisation of sustainable alternative feedstock including  secondary raw materials, ligno-cellulosic biomass, waste or CO2 from industrial flue gases. 
• Design of sustainable materials enabling eco design of ‘products’ that are easy to recycle while maintaining or improving performance.
• Improved efficiency for production processes to maximise the use of all resources entering the system including primary and secondary raw materials, water, and energy.

These technologies are more fully described in the SusChem’s 2015 Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) and should be supported through the appropriate European funding instruments.

Coherence and stability over time for the policy framework is critical for European leadership
To contribute fully to a sustainable economy, the circular economy policy should be developed in coordination with other related policies such as the Energy Union Package. Policy coherence, as well as policy stability over time, is essential to establish a regulatory framework that enables investment in sustainable, resource efficient and innovative technologies in Europe and ensures European leadership in sustainable/clean technologies.

2015 Season's Greetings from SusChem

Dear colleagues and avid SusChem supporters,

2015 was an important year for SusChem: Early in the year we published the new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) which is the result of intensive discussions with you and our other stakeholders. It focuses on the solutions that the chemical industry and its customers and partners in industrial value-chains can bring to tackle the societal challenges that Europe is facing. As such SusChem is an important contributor to the European innovation landscape.

When analysing the first round of Horizon 2020 calls that were issued for the 2014-2015 period, we found that more than 100 calls are connected to technologies described in the SusChem SIRA. We see a similar trend for the 2016-2017 calls. This emphasises in a very tangible way the central role that the chemical industry plays in carrying out Research and Innovation actions that have a significant impact for Europe.

More importantly, SusChem is committed to mobilise its stakeholders to participate in the European innovation effort. We do not only do this through our yearly brokerage event but also through special efforts e.g. dedicated to SMEs. During our stakeholder event in June 2015 we conducted a special brokerage session for SMEs. Here we created an opportunity for SMEs to link with other companies, creating room for companies to get to know the special innovations and business propositions of the SMEs.

Looking forward, SusChem is now engaged in establishing its roadmap for the five years to come, geared towards the implementation of the SIRA. After the kick-off during the Stakeholder event in June we are now working hard on identifying priorities that will be translated into specific initiatives and lighthouse projects. We are looking forward to discussing the outcome with you, soon.

The end of 2015 has also seen a successful conclusion to the COP 21 discussions in Paris. Beyond the global negotiation between states, we all know that the world will need technology solutions to support the transition towards an economy with substantially reduced CO₂ emissions. Here, SusChem is uniquely positioned with sustainability as our fundamental theme and the SIRA clearly focused on the many contributions that the chemical and industrial biotechnology sectors can make.

On behalf of the SusChem Board and the SusChem secretariat, we wish you all very happy and relaxing holidays and a healthy, happy and “sustainable” New Year. 2016 will be another important year for SusChem and we expect to see the first results from the SusChem inspired projects that were launched in the first two years of Horizon 2020 and in which many of you are participating.

Best wishes






Dr Klaus H. Sommer

Chairman of the SusChem Board

Head Consumer and Product Management Bayer Technology Services

Taking a Leaf out of Nature’s Book

Mimicking photosynthesis may be the key to unlocking a future energy scene dominated by renewables. But nature’s simple process still holds many secrets. In light of the high-level Cefic breakfast debate on advanced materials and energy challenges that took place at the 7th European Innovation Summit, we asked science writer Ben Skuse to delve into how breakthroughs in materials may help resign fossil fuels to the past through the development of novel technologies and perhaps – eventually – artificial leaves.

The development of novel processes using waste carbon dioxide - up to and including the ultimate goal of artificial photosynthesis - feature in the SusChem Innovation and Research Agenda. 


Photosynthesis is a wonder of nature. It transforms energy from the light that the Sun bathes the Earth in to energy‐rich sugars. Simply put, it takes carbon dioxide and water, and converts them to glucose and oxygen.

There are two stages to this process. The first – water splitting – converts water into oxygen and a protein. In the next step, the protein reacts with CO2 to produce biomass. So far, scientists have only managed to master the former, splitting water using electrolytic processes to create hydrogen gas instead of biomass. But even on its own this feat was a huge achievement, paving the way for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles being actively commercialised today by the likes of Daimler and Toyota, and for the power industry taking hydrogen energy storage seriously as an option to deal with intermittent renewable power generation.

Hydrogen has some limitations
While hydrogen has one of the highest energy densities of any fuel, it is also the lightest of all elements. This means its storage requires very large volumes or very high pressures, resulting in issues of safety. Furthermore, the high cost of developing infrastructure and the energy intensity of the water splitting process offer sceptics a strong argument that hydrogen may not be the future for energy storage or the automotive industry.

“Hydrogen has some limitations,” confirms Sophie Wilmet, Cefic Innovation Manager. Sophie believes CO2 conversion technologies might provide a good alternative for large-scale storage of renewable energy using existing infrastructure. “CO2 can be used to address the energy storage challenge brought about by the rise in renewables, as well as for alternative fuels for transport.”

Carbon as a resource
Although not using direct photoconversion of CO2, a number of technologies are being actively explored to transform CO2 from a reviled waste product to a useful resource, as Sophie explains: “From CO2 you can produce basic and added-value chemicals”.

For example, a process co-developed by RWTH Aachen University and Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, has led to the construction of a plant that will be opened in 2016 in Dormagen, Germany, capable of producing up to 5000 metric tons per year of polyols, a polyurethane intermediate. About 20% of the content of the polyols will be from waste CO2 captured from a nearby ammonia plant, with the final material a flexible foam for mattresses.

Another innovator is Icelandic company Carbon Recycling International (CRI), whose renewable methanol reduces carbon emissions by more than 90% compared to fossil fuels. The fuel is produced from CO2 and hydrogen that comes from renewable sources of electricity. The world's first liquid renewable transport fuel production facility from non-biological sources of energy, CRI has a 4000 metric ton per year production capacity.

Further novel ideas include using large volumes of waste CO2 from industrial processes to produce syngas (BASF);  converting waste gases from iron and steel mills into ethanol and other important chemicals, such as acetic acid, acetone, isopropanol, n-butanol or 2,3 butanediol (Siemens/LanzaTech); and creating a closed carbon cycle using renewable energy, CO2 and water to provide sustainable fuels for vehicles and decentralised electricity generation (sunfire).

Mimicking nature
Capable of absorbing CO2 at the very low concentrations (400 parts per million) found in the air, absorbing energy from low-photon count sunlight, and photosynthetic cell self-repair, the ‘technology’ within plants is far more advanced than anything devised by humankind so far.
However, with aeons to perfect the technique, it comes as something of a surprise that energy conversion in plants is not actually particularly efficient: “For most plants the photosynthetic and storage efficiency is an average of 1%,” explains Dr Junwang Tang, Reader in Energy from University College London, UK.  Why is photosynthesis so inefficient? “The natural process is capable of utilising 100% of photons but green plants give up that potential to protect themselves – nature doesn’t need so much energy.”

As a result, if society were to mimic photosynthesis unaltered, there would not be enough land on Earth to cycle the carbon required for a sustainable future. Instead, researchers are aiming to enhance the process from a number of angles. “We have learnt how nature stores CO2 and we have realised that we can probably do better,” exclaims Junwang.

Direct photoconversion
A major roadblock in developing such technology is finding photocatalysts that can absorb as much of the solar spectrum as possible while still being efficient. As plants only use a fraction of the visible range, great potential lies in the untapped electromagnetic spectrum, so photocatalysts that respond to different regions are being investigated. Other researchers are exploring doping, nanomaterials and co-catalyst surface-loading to improve the photocatalytic response of promising materials.

However, with numerous other hurdles to climb before real-world application, Sophie expects there to be a long wait before artificial leaves are realised: “It still requires development in terms of new concepts, designs of photoelectrodes and integration of the system,” she explains. “For Cefic, it’s part of our overall long-term strategy, but more like a second- or third-generation technology that will not have impact by 2020.”

Even though tangible impact from direct photoconversion seems a long way off, Europe’s competitors are keen to advance the state of the art now, with a number of multi-million Euro projects funded in Japan, a Joint Centre for Artificial Photosynthesis set up in the US and well-funded initiatives in many other parts of the world.

As a result, Junwang believes Europe’s highly able yet currently fragmented and small community of scientists working in the area needs to be brought together: “Europe is very strong in fundamental understanding of artificial and natural photosynthesis, but countries like Japan, USA and China are investing heavily in this technology through well-funded projects. If we don’t invest more – just like has happened with graphene – other countries will heavily patent the field.”

The Cefic breakfast debate
The Cefic breakfast debate took place at the 7th European Innovation Summit in the European Parliament on 8 December. The event was hosted by Jerzy Buzek, MEP and covered the wide-ranging topic of 'Advanced Materials and breakthrough opportunities for the energy transition’.