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.

Premiere for a New Raw Material: CO2

Today (17 June) Covestro has opened a new production plant in Dormagen, Germany that uses an innovative process that will help cut the use of fossil fuel based feedstock by partially replacing it with carbon dioxide (CO2). For the first time, Covestro is using CO2 to produce plastics on an industrial scale. The production plant for this innovative foam component made with 20% CO2 is at Covestro's Dormagen site near Cologne in Germany. The new process saves a proportional amount of the traditional oil-based raw material, thus making a contribution to sustainability that Covestro believes offers considerable potential. 

SusChem is also supporting research and innovation into the further utilisation of CO2 as a valuable feedstock for chemicals and fuels as part of a broad approach to enabling the circular economy and industrial symbiosis. The use of CO2 as a renewable feedstock features in SusChem's recent Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) and was discussed at our Stakeholder meeting on 16 June. 

SusChem believes that the utilisation of CO2 as a feedstock by the European chemical industry could be a key solution to reducing use of fossil fuels, reducing the EU’s dependence on imports of fossil resources and improving the security of supply of carbon feedstock. Exploiting sustainable carbon resources, such biomass and CO2 will enable production of more sustainable chemicals and materials with lower net CO2 emissions. 

This shift will result in reduced utilisation of fossil resources, and take industry a step closer to a true circular economy.

“We have to change the way we look at CO2, and we will. Using it as an alternative source of raw materials is a solution to some of the biggest challenges of our time – finding a replacement for finite fossil resources such as oil and gas and closing material cycles. Thanks to our innovative process and the launch of our production operations in Dormagen, we see ourselves as a pioneer in this area – true to our vision ‘To make the world a brighter place’,” said Covestro CEO Patrick Thomas at the opening ceremony. 

Long-term perspective

“This method of using carbon dioxide as a raw material is an important step as we move toward a sustainable future. The German Federal government is promoting the use of CO2 as a raw material in order to expand the chemical industry’s raw materials basis and open new avenues to sustainability,” emphasised Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The German government supported Covestro’s technology financially in the research and development phase.

Professor Ernst Schmachtenberg, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, added: “Making efficient use of the carbon dioxide molecule, which is normally slow to react, is a real scientific and technical challenge. We have made a breakthrough by combining application-centric basic research with research-based industrial practices.”

Covestro scientists worked hand-in-hand with experts from the CAT Catalytic Center in Aachen – a research institute operated jointly with RWTH – to find the right catalyst that would make the chemical reaction with CO2 possible. A team under researcher Dr. Christoph Guertler (pictured left) discovered the right catalyst to enable the use of CO2 for plastics production.

For mattresses and upholstery

In Dormagen, Covestro is now using carbon from CO2 to manufacture a new type of polyol. These are core building blocks for polyurethane foam – a versatile material that is used in many industries around the world and that we encounter throughout our daily lives. The carbon dioxide is chemically bound into the material.

The company has invested some EUR 15 million in the new plant, which has an annual production capacity of 5 000 metric tons. The CO2 used is a waste product from a neighbouring chemical company - a great example of the sort of value chains that will be the basis of a future circular economy. 

The new CO2-based polyol has been engineered initially for flexible polyurethane foam intended for use in mattresses and upholstered furniture. In terms of quality, the foam achieves at least the same high standards as conventional material produced using only petrochemical raw materials. 

Environmentally friendly processes

By eliminating the use of crude oil and saving the energy otherwise used to process that oil, the method is more environmentally friendly than conventional production processes. Thanks to the catalyst and the considerable energy contained in the remaining content of petrochemical raw materials, no additional energy needs to be expended to make the low-reactivity CO2 react.

If the new CO2-based products are received as warmly as is hoped, Covestro can envisage significant production expansion. In addition to flexible foam, the company is also working on manufacturing many other plastics with carbon dioxide. Its vision is to one day largely dispense with crude oil in plastics production.

You can read more about the opening of the plant and the Covestro DREAM process here. 

Image credit: All images used in this article are (c) Covestro

Nova Institut announce #useCO2 session

The nova Institut has announced that registration is now open for the first nova Session on a technology of the future: Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). This one-day workshop briefing session takes place on 4 May 2016 at Cologne Airport, Germany. Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technologies - also known as #useCO2 – are close to SusChem’s heart and feature in SusChem’s Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA).

The session will be led by Nova’s CCU-experts Michael Carus and Achim Raschka who will give five presentations at the workshop and additional short presentations from the participants are also welcome. The event will leave plenty of room for discussions.

Participants will have the chance to actively shape content and form of the event and contribute short presentations on their work and the topics they are most interested in.

“At the moment, there is no space for experts to really get together and exchange knowledge, ask questions and meet people from the same and other sectors of the economy – be it from R&D or manufacturing – who might have different views and perspectives on the topics,” states Michael Carus.

The presentations by nova-Institute will highlight:

• The potential of Carbon Dioxide Utilization in combination with renewable energy
• The political framework for commercial CCU projects
• The economy and ecology of CCU 
• Artificial Photosynthesis: Definition and development status 
• The latest technology developments and implementation status of CCU derived fuels, chemicals and polymers including:
• use of flue gases and industrial gases,
• direct air capture,
• electrolysis
• artificial photosynthesis,
• photocatalytic water splitting,
• hybrid systems,
• (bio)electrochemical processes,
• biotechnology processes,
• Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (PtL),
• Methanisation (PtG)

More information about the event and a full agenda are available here. Participants in the nova sessions are limited to 20 people and places will be offered on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis, so if you are interested in attending the event registration is advised as soon as possible.

The venue is the Wöllhaf Conference Centre at the Bonn/ Cologne airport.

SusChem and CO2

CO2 conversion technologies in general—including chemical catalysis processes— feature in the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) that was published at the beginning of 2015. The SIRA addresses the challenges of CO2 conversion via both chemical and biotechnology routes and identifies a series of research and innovation actions that will move the field forward. In addition to efficient conversion processes these actions include sustainable technologies to recover CO2 from flue gases and the integration of renewable energy and efficient technologies for H2 production.

nova Sessions
nova Sessions are a new, interactive and informative series of events around topical issues relating to the biobased and CO2-based economies organised by the nova-Institute. In the sessions interested experts from industry, associations, policy and civil society get together with leading nova experts at one-day workshops to get up-to-date, stay informed and discuss different topics.

You can find more detailed information on the full programme of nova sessions here.

#useCO2 News

Carbon dioxide Capture utilisation (CCU) and carbon storage are certainly hot topics in sustainable chemistry and rarely out of the energy news. Now the European Commission’s Strategic Energy Technologies Information System (SETIS) has devoted a whole issue of its online magazine to the topic including contributions from SusChem and SPIRE.

The January 2016 issue of the SETIS Magazine includes some 20 articles highlighting the many projects and activities on carbon capture utilisation and storage in Europe. Amongst the various contributions from industry and academic experts are two from SusChem and the SPIRE PPP:

• ‘Chemical valorisation of CO2 for Europe’ by Sophie Wilmet of Cefic R&I
• ‘Carbon dioxide – turning an enemy into a valuable friend!’ by SPIRE executive director Loredana Ghinea

SusChem closely follows progress in CO2 utilisation and regularly tweets on developments using the #useCO2 hashtag.

European #useCO2 Events
A couple of important #useCO2 conferences are taking place in Europe during 2016.

Carbon Dioxide Catalysis - Zing Conference on 19 22 April 2016 in the Algarve, Portugal
This conference will showcase the latest advances in the catalytic conversion of CO2. The primary aim of the conference is to gather representatives from the academic and industrial communities to exchange information and ideas, and to find mutual ground for developing new and improved catalytic methods.

International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU XIV) on 11-15 September 2016 in Sheffield UK
The ICCDU is the premier scientific conference on CO2 utilisation research and  provides a multi-disciplinary forum on recent innovations in fundamental and applied aspects of carbon dioxide utilization. There are three broad themes and abstracts are welcome in the following areas by 29 February:

• CO2 insertion any processes in-which CO2 is inserted i.e. polymerisation, mineralisation.
• CO2 splitting any process in which CO2 is split, i.e. electrochemistry, plasma, photochemistry.
• Enabling technologies i.e. carbon capture, LCA, CO2 utilisation in the circular economy, hydrogen production for CO2 utilisation, energy integration, whole systems approaches.

SCOT project
The Smart CO2 Transformation (SCOT) project has launched its Vision for Smart CO2 Transformation in Europe, a long-term Vision for CO2 utilisation that puts forward why Europe should make CCU a priority and accelerate the development of #useCO2 technologies.

The report suggests three core reasons why Europe should accelerate the market development
of its CO2 utilisation sector:

• CO2 utilisation can be one of the major growth areas in Europe’s future low-carbon circular economy
• CO2  utilisation can help to facilitate Europe’s energy transition
• CO2 utilisation can contribute to achieving Europe’s aims for decreasing carbon emissions

The project also has two further events:

How to deal with oil price ups and downs: SCOT & CO2Chem Workshop on 23 March 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany
The significant work on CCU in recent years is being jeopardised by the current depressed fossil fuel price. For successful market implementation, it is crucial for CCU technologies to compete economically, thus the low oil prices are a major barrier for the development of CCU technologies. The goal of the workshop is to describe the current situation and to discuss how CCU can develop constantly and safely within these uncertain framework conditions.
http://www.scotproject.org/

CO2 Utilisation as a Strong Catalyst for the European Industrial Renaissance on 29 June 2016 in Brussels
The final conference of the SCOT FP7 project will present the Research and Development and the regulatory needs that SCOT has identified as levers for the development of CO2 Utilisation. The day will be split in two parts; in the morning, the CO2 recycling community will gather key industrial and academic players in order to discuss the Strategic European Research and Innovation Agenda (SERIA) and the next steps necessary to implement the Joint Action Plan.  In the afternoon, discussion will move to European and regional policy makers and what can be done from a policy perspective to allow the industrial deployment of these technologies.

About CO2Chem
The information provided in this blog is supplied by the CO2Chem network that brings together academics, industrialists and policy makers over a wide range of disciplines to consider the utilisation of carbon dioxide as a single carbon chemical feedstock for the production of value added products. Network activities are geared towards the founding of strong cross-disciplinary research clusters that will lead research in this increasingly important area.
A calendar of forthcoming events covering carbon dioxide utilisation (#useCO2) topics can be found on the CO2Chem Website.

SusChem: Moving on Mobility!

Today (16 September) the EU-wide celebrations for EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK launched at the European Parliament in Brussels. The 2015 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK launch focused on encouraging cycle commuting and integrating cycling in multimodal travel with the motto: ‘Choose. Change. Combine.’ The full week presents a wide range of sustainable mobility alternatives to citizens, explains the challenges that cities and towns are facing to induce behavioural change and make progress towards creating a more sustainable transport strategy for Europe.

Mobility is clearly one of the major challenges facing our urban areas today. And it is an area where SusChem and sustainable chemistry is contributing. SusChem’s recent Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda has a dedicated chapter on Smart, Green and Integrated Transport covering many innovations that are vital to achieving more sustainable mobility.

Chemistry contributions
Electric mobility must play an important role in the future and chemistry already offers numerous products and solutions in this area. The battery is the key component in electric vehicles and chemistry can make this technology more affordable, powerful and secure with the aim of increasing the range of vehicles.

In addition, lightweight design of vehicles is important. If the weight of a vehicle drops, its range can increase and / or it will use less energy. The chemical industry offers tailor-made polymers for many different applications from vehicle bodies to the engine compartment. Vehicles can be designed using recyclable materials, such as bio- and smart-materials, that can ensure vehicles do not become waste at the end of their useful life.  And new tyre concepts can reduce rolling resistance and extend range.

Managing energy in vehicles is important for efficiency especially for electric vehicles. In summer, air conditioning consumes additional energy, while in winter good insulation is important. In contrast to internal combustion engines the electric motor produces nearly no ‘waste’ heat. Chemical products can help here: special pigments applied on the windows reduce the warming of the interior in the sun, while high-performance foams offer perfect insulation in the winter.

If the internal combustion engine remains a significant propulsion source in vehicles in the short to medium term, sustainable chemistry will help through new catalytic exhaust gas treatments to remove organic compounds and fine particles. And fossil fuels can be substituted by synthetic fuels made, for example, by the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) with solar energy or by fuels made from renewable (biomass) sources. Hydrogen produced efficiently from renewable sources is also a potential emission-free alternative to fossils fuels.

Smart mobility – sustainable solutions
The free movement of people and products is an essential element of our modern urban environment. However mobility comes at a cost: the consumption of a vast amount of energy (30% of the total energy consumed in the EU).

And with energy consumption – especially energy derived from fossil fuels – comes pollution. Mobility contributes considerably to CO2 emissions as well as other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides or small particles. Urban mobility accounts for some 40% of all CO2 emissions by road transport and up to 70% of other pollutants generated by transport.

Some of the solutions that sustainable chemistry can provide to meet the mobility challenge for Smart Cities and help stem urban air pollution are described above. But you can find much more information and ideas on mobility issues and sustainable chemistry solutions from SusChem, especially in the context of urban environments, at the resources outlined below.

SusChem is heavily involved with the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities and you can download our Smart Cities Brochure. Mobility and Smart City solutions are also featured on our dedicated Smart Cities mobility page and the Innovation for Growth website.

What is European Mobility Week?
EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is an annual campaign on sustainable urban mobility supported by the European Commission’s directorates for Energy and Transport. The aim of the campaign is to encourage European local authorities to introduce and promote sustainable transport measures.

The week runs from 16 to 22 September every year and sees events taking place across Europe and globally. ‘Choose. Change. Combine’ is the motto for 2015 and embracing multimodality is the main theme of the week. The aim is to encourage people to think about the range of transport options available, to choose the right mode when travelling, and inviting people to combine ways of getting around, which can often lead to a quicker and more pleasant journey.

Since 2002 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK has sought to influence mobility and urban transport issues, as well as improve the health and quality of life of citizens. The campaign also gives citizens the chance to explore what the role of city streets really is, and to explore concrete solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution.

To discover more about how participating cities have used the campaign to enhance their sustainable transport policies, visit the best practice guides.

Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: A Catalyst for European Industrial Renaissance?

Essen will be the “place to be” at the end of September for those working on CO2 recycling and #useCO2 projects in Europe. The city will be the venue for the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers on 29 and 30 September organised by the Nova Institute. And before the conference the SCOT (Smart CO2 Transformation) FP7 project will hold its mid-term conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) on 28 September. All the events take place at the same location: Haus der Technik in Essen, Germany.

On 28 September the SCOT team will present its Vision for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and a Strategic European Research Agenda for Europe. The floor will then be open for the views of high level speakers from politics and industry. Plenty of discussion is expected and you are welcome to take part!

SCOT wants to hear the voices of a wide range of participants. Break-out sessions in smaller groups will also provide opportunities for intense knowledge exchange and discussions on the various aspects of #useCO2 policy and technical issues.

Interactive sessions
This one-day conference will be THE place to hear about the latest developments on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and help shape the future of CDU/ #useCO2 in Europe. Input from the conference will directly feed into SCOT advisory reports to the European Commission. These reports will cover both the future role of CDU in Europe and future support mechanisms for CDU.

The SCOT conference aims to actively engage academics, politicians and industry to discuss the Vision and business opportunities of CDU up to 2030. The break-out sessions will be in small groups of (20-25 people) and will involve a single presentation and a moderator to guide the discussion. The outcomes can help the SCOT team to further narrow down the project’s Vision, Research Objectives and Action Plan.

The sessions are on:

• The Potential of Carbon Dioxide Utilization for Mineralization and Waste
• Availability of low-cost low-carbon electricity for CDU
• Making chemical building blocks using CO2
• Working towards better LCA for CDU and System boundary definitions of CDU
• Power to X: Synthetic fuels from CO2? 
• Framing Carbon Dioxide Utilisation
• Bridging the Gap: (Policy) options to get from lab to market

The SCOT project team are certain that there are already many ideas for CDU that only require a good platform and funding to make them happen. At the end of the conference, SCOT is organising a matchmaking event to allow people to find projects and partners to respond successfully to the European research calls of 2016 on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation. Information will be available on next year’s Horizon 2020 calls including those under the SPIRE PPP initiative and the forthcoming Horizon Prize on CO2 utilisation. Come along to pitch your project ideas and expertise!

Participation in the SCOT conference (including the matchmaking event) costs €50 and you can register here. Students have the opportunity of getting a free ticket on a first-come-first-serve basis.
For more information, please contact the project secretariat. You can download the programme here.

CO2 as Feedstock
The SCOT conference takes place back to back with the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock that is hosted by the Nova-Institute on 29 and 30 September at the Haus der Technik in Essen.

Over the last few years, the rise of this topic has developed rapidly from several research projects and industrial applications to become more and more dynamic, especially in the fields of solar fuels (power-to-fuel, power-to-gas) and also in CO2-based chemicals and polymers. At this conference leading players will showcase some enhanced and also new applications using carbon dioxide as feedstock. Representatives from political bodies and research institutes will be on hand at the event to present and discuss the latest national and regional policies, strategies and visions.

You can access the full programme for the event here and registration is here.

ACHEMA 2015 - Global Summit of Innovation!

With over 3,800 exhibitors and a huge exhibition space ACHEMA opened on 15 June in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The growing international reputation of Europe’s premier event for the process industries was underlined by the fact that, for the first time, the majority of exhibitors come from outside Germany. With well over 160,000 participants anticipated to attend from 15 - 19 June one focus of interest for SusChem amongst the varied technical programme are three sessions on CO2 utilisation.

ACHEMA is the world forum for chemical engineering and the process industry providing an international platform for new chemical process innovations and technologies. And innovation was the main focus of the first day of ACHEMA. At the opening press conference Prof. Dr. Rainer Diercks, Chairman of the Board of organiser DECHEMA e.V. described ACHEMA as: “the global summit of innovation.” Being interdisciplinary and highly international, ACHEMA is a “melting pot of ideas.” Diercks also pointed out that the significant contribution of chemistry and process engineering to the solution of global challenges such as water supply, food or health is not well-known to the general public. ACHEMA is therefore aiming to increase its activities directed towards engaging with the public on these subjects.

The importance of the chemical industry for overall innovation should be brought much more strongly to the attention of the general public DECHEMA believes. All speakers in the press conference panel warned that Europe could fall back as a place for innovation if the political and societal framework was not improved.

Innovation in terms of CO2 utilisation technology is of growing interest to SusChem and the chemical industry generally. At ACHEMA DECHEMA has organised a special stand on the German #useCO2 funding programme in the Exhibition area in  Hall 9.2, stand E46 (link text in German). If you are at ACHEMA go visit!

In addition two ACHEMA conference sessions and a workshop are of direct interest in this field.

Energy and alternatives
Energy, water and feedstock are essential for any chemical or biotechnology conversion. As these resources become scarcer, new methods for efficient use are being introduced. This includes energy efficient transformations and operations as well as the temporary storage of energy in the form of electricity or heat. Renewable energy resources that produce electricity depending on weather conditions rather than in response to demand may create a temporary and regional surplus of energy. This can be usefully employed for the production of basic chemicals as well as for conversion of unconventional feedstock such as CO2.

The ‘Power to chemicals’ conference session majors on this latter theme and takes place on the morning of Thursday, 18 June from 10:30. The session will describe  a number of interesting processes in this field including the use of ammonia as a storage medium for fluctuating (renewable) energy sources; synthetic fuels from a sustainable pathway; storage of power as chemicals using gasification plants; tailored foams as catalyst support for highly exothermic processes; and comparison of biological and catalytic methanation for power-to-gas applications.

You can find more information, including downloadable abstracts of all the presentations, here.

On the following morning (19 June) a dedicated session on Industrial carbon dioxide utilisation covers topics including: Materials for the 21st century - can carbon come from CO2?; CO2-based polyurethanes on the way to commercial scale (the Bayer DREAM process); an evaluation of the economic and environmental potentials of using CO2 in chemical processes; Combinatorial screening of catalyst materials for electrochemical CO2 reduction; and Environmentally sustainable syngas production from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Again you can find more information, including downloadable abstracts of all the presentations, here.

SCOT workshop
Also on the afternoon of 18 June from 15:00 the EU FP7 project Smart CO2 Utilisation (SCOT) is organising a workshop at ACHEMA entitled: ‘PtX: A new paradigm for energy and gas networks?’

The event will present the draft of the SCOT Project’s Vision for Power to Gas and Power to Liquids and open a discussion on  the potential of these technologies in Europe.
The workshop will address the following questions:

• In which fields will PtX provide added value?
• What needs to happen for the technologies to be viable (policy, technical progress, etc)?
• What impact will PtX have on electricity and gas network operators and industries in Europe?

To guide the discussion, three high-level experts will lead the exchanges with the audience that will consist of people from industry, research institutes as well as policy makers.

A joint Cefic-European Commission Workshop on the Chemistry and Processes of CO2 Utilisation was recently held and the outcomes will be published soon.

Opinion: CO2 Conversion Technologies “No one size fits all”

CO2 conversion is set to play a critical role in the future for manufacturing and renewable energy storage. Pierre Barthelemy of Cefic Research and Innovation discusses what this means for a sustainable European chemical industry.

The utilisation of CO2 as a feedstock by the European chemical industry could develop into a key solution to reduce the use of fossil feedstock, reduce the EU’s dependence on imports of fossil resources, and improve the security of supply of carbon-based feedstock.

CO2 conversion is set to play a very important role in the future, not just for manufacturing chemicals but also for renewable energy storage.   Unfortunately the fragmentation of know-how and activities across Europe is a barrier to the fast development and uptake of CO2 conversion technologies.

CO2 is widely available, sometimes in localised and relatively concentrated streams, for example industrial flue gases, yet its conversion into higher value chemicals or fuels is challenging.  The very high thermodynamic stability of CO2 is a technical intrinsic hurdle that justifies the wide range of customised options being investigated worldwide by the scientific and industrial communities.

Biotech innovation and CO2 bioconversion
Funded by the European Commission, the BIO-TIC FP7 project was launched to develop an overview of the barriers to biotech innovation and to identify solutions to overcome these barriers. As part of this objective, several online surveys and stakeholder consultations have been conducted. One interesting finding from an online survey that preceded the recent BIOTIC Workshop on CO2 bioconversion confirmed the common view that chemical conversion of CO2 is a more mature technology compared to CO2 bioconversion technologies; respondents see chemical catalysis as the main CO2 conversion technology by 2020 but expect that bioconversion (especially using microalgae and fermentation) would become the main CO2 conversion technologies by 2030.  The most advanced biotechnological (bio-electrochemical conversion of CO2 and artificial photosynthesis) are promising in the long term but are currently at low technology readiness levels (TRL).

CO2 conversion technologies: “no one size fits all”
Due to the variety of CO2 sources and different requirements and limitations of the various CO2 conversion technologies, one may actually expect coexistence of various conversion routes, each of them representing an optimised solution to a specific situation.   In fact, hybrid solutions combining bioconversion and chemical catalysis for different steps in the entire process (purification, conversion, downstream processing) could enlarge the portfolio of options to solve the economic and technical equations for a given situation.

There is a significant amount of know-how in Europe on CO2 conversion technologies overall, however only a few projects are currently emerging at the pilot or demonstration scale level.   For CO2 bioconversion, all the emerging success stories are US-based.
 
The recent BIO-TIC workshop on CO2 bioconversion has provided more insight on the hurdles and possible solutions for the use of CO2 as a feedstock for industrial biotechnology processes, which is now being integrated in the final BIO-TIC roadmaps.  The latter will be available for public consultation early in the New Year.

SusChem’s contribution to CO2 conversion technologies
CO2 conversion technologies in general—including chemical catalysis processes— feature in the new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) that will also be published at the beginning of 2015. The SIRA addresses the challenges of CO2 conversion via both chemical and biotechnology routes and identifies a series of research and innovation actions that will move the field forward. In addition to efficient conversion processes these actions include sustainable technologies to recover CO2 from flue gases and the integration of renewable energy and efficient technologies for H2 production.

For more information please contact Pierre Barthelemy at Cefic, read the SusChem blog or visit the SusChem website. One of the SusChem twitter account's areas of interest is news and information on CO2 capture and utilisation (CCU) using the hashtag #useCO2 to highlight tweets on the subject.

BIO-TIC Workshop on CO2 based chemicals

BIO-TIC has announced the date of its second ‘bio-business workshop’. The theme will be the “CO2-based chemicals business case” and the workshop takes place in Lyon, France on 24 September. This is the second workshop out of a series of five workshops looking at product segments and applications in the bioeconomy that BIO-TIC have identified as having significant potential for European industry and society by 2030.

The potential to use greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for producing new materials is a hot topic currently and could help to develop a true circular economy. SusChem speakers presented on this and related topics at Green Week this week (5 June).

The “CO2-based chemicals business case” workshop will precede the major “Large-volume CO2 Utilization: Enabling Technologies for Energy and Resource Efficiency, 3rd Edition, The CO2 Forum, International Sustainable CO2 Chemical and Biochemical Recycling” Conference organised by CPE Lyon. This means that many leading experts in the field will already be in Lyon, increasing the effectiveness and participation in the workshop and the benefits of attending both events. The BIO-TIC event will be organised as an official satellite event and registration for the event will be opening soon!

Why attend the workshop? 
Input from the market and experts in industry and research are vital to build a basis for BIO-TIC’s roadmaps. Therefore, the BIO-TIC team is working to engage with multiple stakeholders across different value chains with activities on a range of technological domains from chemistry and engineering to health and the environment.

To define the opportunities and hurdles in the “CO2 to Chemicals” business case, the BIO-TIC workshop will explore the role of industrial biotechnology in:

• Direct production of chemicals through the transformation of CO2 (see some possible chemical targets below)
• “Artificial leaves”, using CO2, water, sunlight and a (semiconductor) catalyst to produce glucose as a feedstock for industrial biotechnological processes to produce chemicals

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• Identify technological, non-technological and market hurdles for the uptake of industrial biotechnology as a basis for use of CO2 as a feedstock;
• Develop recommendations and solutions to overcome the identified hurdles;
• Contribute to the development, testing and fine-tuning of the BIO-TIC roadmap;
• Bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes; and
• Collect data to develop draft indicators to measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of industrial biotechnology and the use of renewables-based products in the European Union

The BIO-TIC workshop will take place from 12:00 to 18:00 on 24 September 2014 at CPE Lyon - Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon and will be free to attend.

For more information about our workshop download the BIO-TIC – CO2 workshop flyer or contact the BIO-TIC secretariat.

Enabling CO2 Utilization

How can we transform large volumes of CO2 into materials and fuels needed for quality of life and sustainable development? How does the field of CO2 recycling contribute to the current policy objectives in the field of climate change mitigation?

The CO2 Forum on 25 to 26 September will address the latest answers to these questions with leading international academics, industrialists and policymakers to assess the emerging chemical, bio-engineering, and process innovations based on renewable energy sources.

CO2 chemical and biochemical recycling is a desirable environmental solution and a viable business and research opportunity. The CO2 Forum aims at reinforcing such position by bringing together relevant policymakers, corporate business, and academia researchers in an open 2-day conference for an update on three main topics:

• Current policy and environmental context (including CO2 taxation, CO2 regulation, and socio economic analyses)
• Business opportunity (“negative cost” chemical)
• Scientific and technologic innovation with sustainable energy source 

For more details on the CPE CO2 Forum visit the conference website.

What is BIO-TIC? 
Funded by the European Commission, BIO-TIC was launched, as an FP7 project, with the aim to establish an overview of the opportunities and barriers to biotechnology innovation and propose approaches to address them.

Modern use of industrial biotechnology (IB) is critical in a bio-based economy. Deploying the full potential of biotech innovation will enable the European industry to deliver high-value products to consumers and create new commercial opportunities. New feedstock demands will lead to synergies amongst SMEs and large industrial partners. New technological developments will boost European export of technology and facilities by bringing some of Europe’s top sectors together: chemical industry, engineering and renewables.

However to date, major hurdles continue to hamper the full exploitation of biotechnology in Europe. These hurdles may vary from technological bottlenecks to limited availability of venture capital and fragmented policy frameworks.

BIO-TIC seeks to define product segments and applications that promise significant potential for Europe’s industry and society by 2030. We have now identified five major “bio-business cases” which are EU-competitive and have the potential to introduce cross-cutting technology ideas.

These are:

• Bio-plastics Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polylactic acid (PLA) 
• Building blocks 
• Bio-fuels 
• Bio-surfactants 
• CO2-based chemicals 

Based on these business cases, we are developing three in-depth “bio-roadmaps”. These will focus on the market potential, R&D priorities and non-technological hurdles of IB innovation. In particular, the market roadmap will provide market projections up to 2030. The technology roadmap will focus on setting R&D priorities and identifying needs for pilot and demonstration of plant activities. Last but not least, the non-technological barriers roadmap will identify regulatory and non-technological hurdles that may inhibit industrial biotech innovation reaching new market opportunities. The second draft version of the roadmaps is already online while the final version will be released in July 2015.

All the BIO-TIC roadmaps, can be downloaded from the BIO-TIC Partnering Platform and for more information about the BIO-TIC FP7 project visit the project website.

Climate-KIC unveils four new climate change innovation programmes

Today (15 May) the Climate-KIC, the European Union’s main climate innovation initiative, has announced €100+ million funding for long-term programmes aimed at fighting the climate change challenge. At least two of these new programmes will be of interest to SusChem stakeholders.

The four new flagship pan-European innovation programmes will accelerate efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation and will be supported by a combination of Climate-KIC, partner and external sources of funding to the tune of more than €100 million over the next four years. The programmes will start this year.

The new innovation programmes will incorporate a range of pioneering research, innovation and entrepreneurship in diverse technology sectors including:

• Sustainable urban environments
• Climate-friendly homes and offices
• Exploiting CO2 as a resource
• Catastrophe models for the finance industry

Mary Ritter, Climate-KIC Chief Executive Officer, said: “These new flagship initiatives will provide focus and impact for Climate-KIC’s approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. These innovation programmes enable us to expand our work with climate experts, educators and innovative entrepreneurs across Europe to address climate change mitigation and adaptation – and shape the world’s next economy.”

The four programmes were announced at the European Business Summit in Brussels.

Exploiting CO2 as a resource
Under the leadership of Bayer MaterialScience, the enCO2re programme will further broaden the approach for CO2 re-utilisation, connecting technology leaders as well as leading European universities and institutes in order to leverage a broad utilisation of CO2 as feedstock for chemical value chains. Bayer MaterialScience has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of utilising CO2 as polymer feedstock and the news on this new project came on the same day as Bayer announced plans for an industrial scale plant producing CO2-based polyols in Europe.

Following a successful test phase and promising market analysis, Bayer MaterialScience plans to invest € 15 million in the construction of a production line at its Dormagen site to use CO2 to produce a precursor for premium polyurethane foam. The line will have an annual production capacity of 5,000 metric tons. The objective of the “Dream Production” project is to launch the first product on the market in 2016. Processors of polyols and polyurethanes have already expressed considerable interest.

#useCO2
Within the new enCO2re programme turning CO2 into high-value products, as well as evaluating the required infrastructure, will contribute to further decoupling energy and resource consumption from industrial growth a major objective of SusChem and the SPIRE2030 PPP.

Christoph Sievering, Head of Strategic Energy Management, Bayer MaterialScience commented: “Bayer believes in the potential of industrial symbiosis and open innovation. Climate-KIC offers a unique umbrella for further leveraging our ambitions to turn value chains into closed carbon cycles. The Climate-KIC enCO2re flagship is an industry initiative for enabling CO2 re-use. Climate-KIC drives innovation by connecting industry and technology leaders and convinced us with its three-pillar concept of innovation support, educational programmes and start-up acceleration.”

Other Partners of the enCO2re project include: Imperial College London, Delft University of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Laborelec, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, RWTH Aachen, GDF Suez, TU Berlin, and AkzoNobel.

Climate-friendly homes and offices
The Building Technologies Accelerator will bring together multidisciplinary ‘living lab’ teams across Europe to address the climate impact of new building technologies and accelerate the potential of low carbon products and services in the built environment. By the end of 2014, a range of new prototype technologies will be ready to be launched across Europe’s building sector.

Last year SusChem published a report on Key Innovations in Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Smart Cities that could contribute here and other sustainable chemistry contributions to improved resource and energy efficiency can be found at the Cefic-SusChem Smart Cities website.

Partners for the Building Technologies Accelerator include: Delft University of Technology; ETH Zurich; EMPA; Chalmers University of Technology; Knight Frank; and IVE Spain.

Sustainable urban environments
The Smart Sustainable Districts initiative will help some of Europe’s highest profile city district developments become global exemplar projects testing smart, sustainable systems for replication in other urban areas world-wide. Initially working with four pilot districts from a wider collaborative network of 12, the project will bring together some of the most advanced innovations from Climate-KIC’s network of over 200 partners. The project is led by Imperial College; Institute for Sustainability; TU Berlin; TNO; TU Munich; and Utrecht Sustainability Institute.

The fourth KIC covers ‘Catastrophe models for the finance industry.’

Regional partner for #useCO2 Project

The Smart CO2 Transformation (SCOT) project is supported under ‘Regions of Knowledge’ in FP7 to develop a Strategic European Research Agenda aimed at improving the technical and economic performance of emerging CO2 transformation technologies. The project was launched in October 2013 by four partner regions in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK and it now requires the participation of an additional partner (regional authority or organization supported by a region). Could this be you? 

Reducing CO2 emissions, protecting the environment and our resources, while reducing consumption of scarce raw materials are some major challenges facing society. The EU has adopted ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050. So far, most attention from policy makers and others has been paid to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies that aim to concentrate CO2 emitted from large industrial sites and store it in deep geological sites.

The SCOT project is complementary to this approach but focuses on an emerging research area with great economic growth potential: the recycling of CO2 through its transformation into valuable products via chemical or biological technologies – a topic close to SusChem and SPIRE’s research agendas and the subject of many SusChem tweets with the hashtag #useCO2 and previous SusChem blog articles.

In addition to significantly reducing net CO2 emissions, this approach brings the benefit of reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources and CO2 is no longer considered as a waste but as a significant resource.

SCOT is the first ever European regional initiative in the field of CO2 recycling. The consortium gathers four regions which are strongly committed and already well advanced in this emerging area of CO2 recycling. Through a stronger coordination of their individual efforts, the SCOT project aims to:

• define a Strategic European Research Agenda aimed at improving the technico-economic performance of emerging CO2 transformation technologies and at developing new breakthrough solutions and market applications
• attract additional EU clusters, regions and investors to participate in multi-disciplinary research programmes and other collaborative actions defined in a Joint Action Plan
• propose structural policy measures to favour the transition to a new European society based on the paradigm of “CO2-as-a-resource”, and significantly improve the EU’s overall competitive position and environmental performance on the international scene. 

Partner profile

The SCOT consortium has a dedicated Work Package on internationalization and mentoring. And the new project partner will benefit from this aspect of the project. The mentoring activities will be divided into two separate sets of actions: developing research and clustering capacities in the mentored region, and reinforcing the clustering/networking capacities of more advanced regions through a mutual exchange of best practices

Such mentoring activities will be the ideal opportunity for the mentored region to:

• reinforce its research and innovation capacities in the area of CO2 recycling, 
• and to learn how to structure and operate an innovation-driven cluster. 

The deadline for submitting an application to join the project is 3 January 2014 and the selection will happen by 10 January.

Further information on participation can be found on this link and interested parties can find the details of the application process here. Alternatively contact Talia Brun at Axelera.

CO2: A Future, Renewable Feedstock?

The chemical industry's use of CO2 as a renewable resource can support EU chemical sector sustainable development and future competitiveness, said Dr. Gernot Klotz, Executive Director Research and Innovation at Cefic, speaking at the opening session of the Carbon Dioxide Utilisation Summit that took place in Brussels from 30-31 October, Klotz  addressed the importance of carbon dioxide as a renewable resource that can be considered a key strategy to support the European chemical sector's sustainable development and future competitivenes. Utilising CO2 can also demonstrate chemistry's potential to solve major societal challenges such as healthy ageing, energy security, and climate change among many others.

Klotz stressed the need for a change in mentality towards CO2, saying: "Europe can no longer afford to look at CO2 as pollution or waste to be disposed of; but rather as a renewable resource for the future.”

CO2 as a feedstock
CO2 as a feedstock for chemistry can be used in many different ways, such as renewable energy storage and as an ingredient to make polymers and new materials. The next step will be to make CO2 a key enabler for artificial photosynthesis via chemical processes. In a recent Financial Times special report, Cefic Director General Hubert Mandery said: “artificial photosynthesis is the real holy grail...When we can use sunlight to turn CO2 into energy to heat our houses or power our cars, we can reinvent the way we live.”

Klotz sees CO2 as the only renewable resource Europe has in abundance and can play a vital role in ensuring Europe’s future as a competitive economy.

“Innovation is about change. If Europe wants to be competitive on the world scene it must urgently change its approach to innovation and look into leading edge technologies," he continued. "Other regions of the world, such as the United States and Asia, are racing to develop a competitive economy based on renewable resources."

"European countries must cooperate now to ensure that a broader vision for a CO2 economy in Europe is born and implemented, enabling the chemicals sector to design and produce new, innovative technologies and products in the coming years and to immediately use its advantages by bringing together economy, goods, growth and social welfare.”

SPIRE and new uses for CO2
Klotz also argued that European initiatives are needed that could create a space for a new mind-set for resources, efficiency and innovation in Europe, including for new uses for CO2. One example is the Public Private Partnership for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE), which aims to enable new technologies and best practices in important stages of existing, large-scale value chains that will contribute to a resource efficient process industry. CO2 could play a breakthrough role in this context.

Cefic has also brought together all relevant stakeholders, including eminent scientists, to jointly create a roadmap that will help Europe to achieve global leadership in innovation and this will be available early 2014.

Klotz concluded: “If Europe aims to achieve global leadership in sustainable technologies together with jobs and growth the progress we make in the next 10 years will be of critical importance.”

CO2 potential
In early October Prof Gabriele Centi from the University of Messina gave a technical overview of the potential of CO2 as a feedstock during a Cefic sponsored session at the European Innovation Summit in Brussels. He said that “CO2 is neither a polluter nor a waste” and that it could be “a raw material that enabled change for society.”

He also sees CO2 as a valuable carbon source and a key element to realise energy and resource efficiency and introduce new renewable energy concepts. The carbon-based economy would provide a new scenario for sustainable chemicals production that integrated biomass and CO2 as feedstocks for a “new chemistry for the future”.

Prof Centi described a variety of CO2 using processes that were already developed or would be in the short to medium term (see graphic below). He also looked at a long term vision of developing artificial leaves that would remove ambient CO2 from the air to make fuel or materials.

The (re)use of CO2 could be a massive opportunity for Europe he concluded. It could exploit a currently untapped resource and contribute to reducing GHG emissions and be a major driver of innovation and growth.

More information
To know more about the potential role of CO2 in the future of Europe’s economy, competitiveness and energy efficiency, please contact Dr. Gernot Klotz, Executive Director for Research and Innovation at Cefic or Sophie Wilmet, Innovation Counsellor at CEFIC.

CO2 is a Resource for the Future of Europe

The Second Conference on CO2 as Feedstock for Chemistry and Polymers took place in Essen, Germany on 7 – 9 October 2013. The conference discussed a new paradigm for industrial chemical production: the CO2 (carbon dioxide) economy with CO2 no longer seen as a waste product but increasingly as a renewable feedstock for chemicals, fuels or polymers. In the longer term new CO2 chemistry can enable artificial photosynthesis to produce chemical products from ambient CO2. This is an increasingly important area of interest for both SusChem and the SPIRE PPP.

Dr. Gernot Klotz, Executive Director for Research and Innovation at CEFIC (the European Chemical Industry Council) and Member of the SusChem Board, spoke in the opening panel of the conference, together with representatives of the National Energy Agency and of the German government, to describe the importance of CO2 as a potential renewable feedstock for the chemical industry in Europe.

Dr. Klotz stressed the need for a change in our mentality towards CO2: “Europe can no longer afford to look at CO2 as waste to be disposed of, for example by burying it underground, but we must recognize CO2 as a renewable source for the future.” CO2 as feedstock for chemistry can be used in many different ways, such as renewable energy storage and as an ingredient to make polymers and new materials.  The next step will be to make CO2 a key enabler for artificial photosynthesis via chemical processes.

Resource innovation

“Innovation is about change,” said Dr. Klotz. “If Europe wants to be competitive on the world scene it must urgently change its approach to innovation. Other regions of the world, such as the United States and Asia, are racing to develop a competitive economy based on renewable resources. CO2 is the only renewable resource Europe has in abundance, and can play a vital a role in ensuring Europe’s future as a competitive economy.”

“European countries must cooperate now to ensure that a broader vision for a CO2 economy in Europe is born and implemented. This would enable us to design and produce new, innovative technologies and products in the coming years and to immediately use its advantages by bringing together economy, goods, growth and social welfare.”

Dr. Klotz argued that this new approach requires all players in society to align to support the initiative. New European initiatives can create a space for a new mind-set for resources, efficiency and innovation in Europe, including new uses for CO2. For example, the Public Private Partnership for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) aims to enable new technologies and best practices in important stages of existing, large-scale value chains that will contribute to a resource efficient process industry. CO2 could play a breakthrough role in this context.

Typically in the EU there are many efforts made to advance the innovative capacity of industry, but they are often fragmented. CEFIC has brought together all relevant stakeholders to jointly create a roadmap that will help Europe to achieve global leadership in innovation.

“If Europe aims to achieve global leadership in sustainable technologies together with jobs and growth the progress we make in the next 10 years will be of critical importance,” concluded Dr Klotz.

Dr. Klotz will also be speaking at a forthcoming conference on this topic at the end of October. The Carbon Dioxide Utilization Summit takes place from 30 to 31 October at the Hotel Marivaux Brussels and will feature the use of CO2 as a feedstock for fuels and chemicals.

More information
To get more information on the potential role of CO2 in the future of Europe’s economy, competitiveness and energy efficiency, please contact Dr Gernot Klotz, Executive Director for Research and Innovation at CEFIC, or Sophie Wilmet, Innovation Counsellor at CEFIC.

The SusChem Newsblog and Twitter feed (@suschem) uses the hashtag #useCO2 to highlight news and information on CO2 utilization technology and innovation that crosses our desk.

Carbon Dioxide for Chemistry and Polymers

For the second consecutive year, experts will gather in Germany to discuss the subject of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the feedstock of the future. The event, organized by Nova-Institute, will take place on 7-9 October 2013 at Haus der Technik in Essen and will be the biggest event on CO2 as chemical feedstock this year bringing new insights into the utilisation of carbon dioxide: an area of great interest to SusChem.

Life on Earth has thrived successfully for more than three billion years relying only on CO₂ as a single feedstock in combination with water and solar energy. Recently a vision of a ‘CO₂ economy’ has emerged based on different technologies developed to capture CO₂ and convert it into the wide range of chemicals that are vital to modern society. CO₂ utilisation could enable recycling of CO₂ as an everlasting raw material and the main carbon source for a truly circular economy. These new and exciting chemical technologies are described by the generic acronym CCU: Carbon Capture and Utilisation.

The first steps to achieving this CO₂ vision are already in hand and many interesting technologies are under development with the first investments in energy storage (power-to-gas) and polymers (polyurethanefrom CO2) made this year in Europe.

CO₂ can provide a feedstock for many different chemical routes. These include renewable energy storage via CO₂ upgrade, chemicals and polymers from CO₂, CO₂ mineralization, CO₂ as carbon source for biotechnology applications (for example algae and bacteria) and artificial photosynthesis via chemical processes – perhaps the ultimate goal. The source of CO₂ as feedstock could be from industrial flue gases or directly from the atmosphere.

Carbon insights

The Essen conference will present a range of these new technologies. On the first day, the vision and framework for a modern CO₂ economy will be outlined by representatives from European and German political bodies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Gernot Klotz from Cefic will describe how Cefic and SusChem are organising to boost research and innovation in this area.

In addition the Virgin Earth Challenge will present their vision for CO₂ utilisation’s role in combating climate change. And finally some projects from Europe and Japan will give insights into their work on artificial photosynthesis and sustainability aspects of CO₂ utilisation.

The second day will focus on feedstock preparation and utilization in innovative inorganic and organic chemistry and also on the production on 'solar fuels'. Following some overviews, several international speakers from the industry and academia will present their most recent project results.

On the final day, the conference will focus on polymers and building blocks made from CO₂ via chemical and biotechnological routes. Highlights of that day will be presentations of companies such as Bayer and BASF and research organisations including the BioBase Europe Pilot Plant in Belgium.

A technical exhibition and poster session will run in parallel to the conference.

More information

You can find more details about the exhibition and the poster session and register online for the conference at its website or contact the organiser Dominik Voght at Nova Institute. 

SusChem closely follows progress in CO₂ utilisation and regularly tweets on developments using the #useCO2 hashtag.

Shaping a Sustainable Future in The Hague

Europe’s largest Science and Business Congress on Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnology will be taking place in The Hague, Netherlands from April 21 to 25. This important  European congress is taking the theme ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ and combines two major scientific and industrial innovation events: the Ninth European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and the Second European Congress of Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2).

This unique partnership of academia, industry and society will bring together international researchers, European politicians, companies, policy makers, promising students and innovative start-ups to jump-start forward-thinking efforts to improve the speed and efficiency of innovation processes. SusChem is involved via numerous presentations by stakeholders and through its partnership in the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) FP7 project.

The five-day event offers the chance to catch up with all the latest inventions in the field of chemical engineering and applied biotechnology: two key areas for SusChem and future PPP initiatives such as SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020.

ECCE2013 offers a wealth of lectures, workshops and seminars with multiple parallel sessions. The full programme can be downloaded here or you can consider a first-class scientific programme with plenary lectures and keynotes by renowned scientists, poster presentations and over 300 scientific oral presentations in areas from the educational needs of future chemical engineers and novel biobased processes and products to nanotechnology and CO2 capture and use.

Or take a look at the industry focused innovation track: effectively highlighting where science meets business. The special innovation track is tailored to the specific interests of industry, bringing delegates in contact with new clients, business partners and the latest innovations from SMEs and promising start-ups.

As SusChem has demonstrated since 2004 there is immense innovative strength in these sectors offering enormous opportunities to achieve a sustainable society with collaboration between science, government and the corporate world playing an essential role in realising that objective.

EPIC Participation
The event organisers anticipate well over 2000 attendees including several hundred of the brightest and best PhD and MSc students.

Also within the ECCE9 programme is EPIC2013 - the fourth European Process Intensification Conference – that will include the award of the Process Intensification Award for Industrial Innovation organised by EFCE’s Working Party on Process Intensification.

ECCE2013 is jointly organised by the Association of Dutch Process Technologists (NPT) and the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Science (ESBES) on behalf of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE). The organisation is supported by the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT).

For more information, check the ECCE2013 website to see the inspiring programme, the names of the renowned keynote speakers and to find out all about the Holland Pavilion and the Exhibition and Networking Fair. Alternatively please contact the Congress organisers at MCI-Group. You can also follow the Congress via Twitter @ECCE9ECAB2 or join the ECCE2013 LinkedIn group.