Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WaterProof (urban WAste and water Treatment Emission Reduction by utilizing CO2 for the PROduction Of Formate derived chemicals)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-06-01 do 2023-11-30
The WaterProof project aims at developing an electrochemical process that converts CO2 emission captured from consumer waste incineration and wastewater treatment facilities into formic acid to be used in valuable green consumer products such as cleaning detergents and the tanning of fish leather apparel. Additional products of the electrochemical process are peroxides that can be applied to remove pharmaceuticals and pesticides from wastewater. Furthermore, formic acid is used for the generation of acidic deep eutectic solvents (ADES), that can be applied to recover precious metals from wastewater sludge and incineration ashes. As the electrochemical process uses renewable energy, it contributes to a clean water cycle with zero-emission.
WaterProof enables the closing of the waste(water) carbon loop and the shift from fossil to renewable carbon sources. It hereby supports the transition towards a climate-neutral Europe and an effective and truly circular economy.
WaterProof enables the closing of the waste(water) carbon loop and the shift from fossil to renewable carbon sources. It hereby supports the transition towards a climate-neutral Europe and an effective and truly circular economy.
In the first period, efforts have focused on the further development of the WaterProof technology. For the electrochemical conversion of CO2, progress has been made on the design of the larger electrochemical cell as well as the upscaling of the manufacturing of the electrode. The composition of the CO2 from both demo sites has been measured and the effect of these impurities on the process has been investigated. The different unit operations of the process have been identified and defined and methods and plans have been developed for upscaling of these sections and preliminary designs of the demo plant have been created. Furthermore, to increase the circularity of the project, formic acid has been used to synthesize ADES, that can be used for the recovery of metals from incinerator ashes and various catalysts for production of H2O2 on the anode have been investigated. Together with the end users, quality requirements for the final product have been defined.
Further research and development is needed to improve and scale the WaterProof technology. We have another 2/3 of the project to proof the principle and to reach the objectives.