Perovskite Oxides for CO2 Utilization – Industrial Applicability of Tailored reverse Water Gas Shift Catalysts

Project Information

TUCAS-CO2

Grant agreement ID: 101068557

DOI

10.3030/101068557

Project closed

EC signature date 23 March 2022

Start date 1 May 2022

End date 31 October 2023

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 150 000,00

Coordinated by

MONTANUNIVERSITAET LEOBEN
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TUCAS-CO2 (Perovskite Oxides for CO2 Utilization – Industrial Applicability of Tailored reverse Water Gas Shift Catalysts)

Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In order to keep the global temperature increase due to climate change below 2 °C, immediate actions must be taken to drastically reduce the amount of released greenhouse gases. This task can be achieved by improving the efficiency of industrial processes, by carbon capture and storage at large scale, and, additionally, by the de-fossilisation of industry and transport via capture and utilisation of biogenic CO2. Furthermore, fossil fuel depletion and policies that penalise carbon emissions motivate the realisation of catalytic conversion of CO2 into value-added products (e.g. olefins, dimethylether, acetic acid or methanol). Thus, CO2 is no longer considered a toxic waste, but an important raw material and valuable C1 building block. This enables the development of efficient circular economy concepts that allow the processing of large quantities of CO2 in a short time.
CO2 recycling is a technological challenge due to the stability of the molecule (dissociation energy: 750 kJ mol−1). It requires significant energy input, which is often realised by very high reaction temperatures (limiting suitable competitive processes). Hence, CO2 valorisation requires the development of new concepts and new perspectives for catalysis, including process engineering.
An effective process for large scale CO2 utilisation is the catalytic reverse water-gas shift (rWGS) reaction. Furthermore, rWGS is an important intermediate reaction in other CO2 conversion processes and a key reaction for Power-to-X applications. Another major advantage is that rWGS reactors can be implemented easily with the current available infrastructure in heavy carbon industry (e.g. cement, steel making, refineries, etc.), exactly where huge amounts of CO2 are emitted. Syngas produced via rWGS can then be used, for example in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (synthetic fuels) or for the production of methanol (one of the five most important chemical feedstocks worldwide).
We are developing our perovskite oxide catalysts as novel high-performance RWGS catalysts. For this we transforming it from a lab based powder material to a formed catalyst.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

We obtain first insights in the feasibility of industrial scale RWGS processes for CO2 valorisation. This included the scale-up of our perovskite synthesis procedure to be able to produce larger amounts of the doped perovskites. In particular, we investigated how the active surface area can be increased, so that the perovskites can compete with currently used supported Ni-based catalysts. We have build up a flame spray pyrolysis system. Whit this technique it is possible to obtain larger amounts of high surface area perovskites. With the novel perovskites and with high surface area supports we have formed a composite material to tune the properties of our catalysts. We have established a industrial network that supports our commercialisation strategy. Important aspects are the scaling of the perovskite production and process engineering.


Within the ERC PoC, we achieved the following milestones:
• A successful upscale of the material synthesis (from ~2-3 g to ~ 0.5 kg) was achieved, preserving the material characteristics at a nanoscopic level.
• On the basis of the current best material, technical catalyst bodies (pellets) were formed (including variation of additives like binders, porogens, etc.). In parallel, an alternative extrusion route was explored.
• Successful RWGS tests of the formed material at elevated pressures proved high selectivity and productivity, reaching the TD limit and outperforming the state of the art Ni-catalyst.
• In autumn 2022, our team joined the incubator program of the TU Wien Innovation Incubation Center (i2c), which provides intense mentoring. This led to a rapid acceleration concerning business development.
• We successfully build up the flame spray pyrolysis system and obtained high surface area perovskite oxides.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Not public at the moment due to a possible patent application.
We are currently working on a university spin-off for the commercialisation of our novel perovskite catalysts for RWGS. We were already participate in national pitch challenges were could also aquire some small prizes (coaching and support for buisness development).