Project description
A more efficient, eco-friendly approach to hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is an important raw material in the chemical, pulp and paper and textile industries, used primarily as an oxidant and bleaching agent. Currently, hydrogen peroxide is manufactured almost exclusively by the natural gas-based autooxidation/anthraquinone process, and it is shipped as a diluted solution to end-users. The state-of-the-art thus has a large CO2 footprint. The EU-funded HYPER project will seek to transform hydrogen peroxide production from this large-volume, energy-intensive chemical process to a more efficient, scalable and modular electrochemical process. HYPER’s innovation lies in the use of persulfate as a stable oxidisation intermediate, allowing both renewable electricity storage and on-site, on-demand hydrogen peroxide production.
Objective
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has many industrial applications, e.g. as chemical reagent and bleaching agent for textiles and wood pulp. The established production route of H2O2 is the autooxidation/ anthraquinone process, which uses natural gas as both feedstock and energy source.The main objective of HYPER is the demonstration, in industrially relevant environments, of a scalable, modular electrochemical process for H2O2 production with improved efficiency compared to the state-of-art. It will bridge this production with downstream integration into diverse value chains, pulp and paper, textiles and coatings/chemicals, in which strong market opportunities exist for modular, on-site and on-demand H2O2 production. The central innovation in HYPER is the use of persulfate as a stable oxidization intermediate, allowing both storage of renewable electricity and on-demand H2O2 production. HYPER will thus help transform H2O2 production from a large-volume, energy intensive chemical process to a smaller-scale, modular, renewable, electrochemical process. Demonstration of electrochemical production technologies at TRL6 and integration into the three aforementioned value chains will allow HYPER to evaluate the potential of the electrochemical production for further TRL development.HYPER will advance a safe, circular, and cost competitive electrified technology for H2O2 production. The estimated production price of ca. 0.6 €/kg can be further decreased by the storage of renewable electricity. Implementation of HYPER technology will decrease life cycle CO2 emissions in H2O2 production by up to 75% when 100% renewable energy sources are used. Estimated CO2 emissions reductions are from 1.1 Mt CO2/yr in 2030 to 1.4Mt CO2/yr in 2045, for cumulative CO2 emission savings of more than 19 Mt by 2045. Energy consumption of the HYPER process are estimated to be over a third less than the established production route.The HYPER consortium consists of 4 RTOs, 6 SMEs and 3 industrial partners.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistry
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringwoodworking
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
7034 Trondheim
Norway