Periodic Reporting for period 2 - COZMOS (Efficient CO2 conversion over multisite Zeolite-Metal nanocatalysts to fuels and OlefinS)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-11-01 do 2022-04-30
What if we were able to use CO2 and H2 from renewable energy sources as fuel and chemical feedstocks, and thus decrease CO2 emissions and displace fossil fuels at the same time? COZMOS will develop an energy-efficient and environmentally and economically viable conversion of CO2 to fuels and high added value chemicals via an innovative, cost effective catalyst, reactor and process. The concept will combine the sequential reactions of CO2 hydrogenation to methanol and methanol to C3 hydrocarbons, exploiting Le Chatelier's principle to overcome low equilibrium product yields of methanol.
Complete conversion of CO2 to a 85% yield of C3 hydrocarbons will be achieved by using an optimised bifunctional catalyst within a single reactor. The optimised catalyst will allow the combined reactions, that currently run at disparate temperatures and pressures, to operate in a temperature/pressure "sweet spot", which will reduce infrastructure and provide energy and production cost savings. The concept will allow tunable production of propane and propylene depending on location, amount of available renewable energy and economic needs. Propane, being a constituent of LPG, is utilized as an easily stored fuel used for heating, cooking and transportation, whereas and the more valuable product propene constitutes a very important base chemical for production e.g. of polypropylene (PP), propylenoxide (PO) and acrylonitrile (AN) all of them with an expected significant increase in demand. The integrated technology will be demonstrated at TRL5 on off-gases from the energy intensive steel and refinery industries. Markets for both propane and propene are expected to grow in the coming years, such that the COZMOS technology will contribute to achieving a Circular Economy and diversified economic base in carbon-intensive regions.
Throughout the whole value chain development, emphasis will be placed on risk-mitigation pathways and strong industrial involvement, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis to maximise further exploitation and industrialisation of the results. Specific attention will be paid to social acceptance, including analysis of stakeholder and end-user interests.
Complete conversion of CO2 to a 85% yield of C3 hydrocarbons will be achieved by using an optimised bifunctional catalyst within a single reactor. The optimised catalyst will allow the combined reactions, that currently run at disparate temperatures and pressures, to operate in a temperature/pressure "sweet spot", which will reduce infrastructure and provide energy and production cost savings. The concept will allow tunable production of propane and propylene depending on location, amount of available renewable energy and economic needs. Propane, being a constituent of LPG, is utilized as an easily stored fuel used for heating, cooking and transportation, whereas and the more valuable product propene constitutes a very important base chemical for production e.g. of polypropylene (PP), propylenoxide (PO) and acrylonitrile (AN) all of them with an expected significant increase in demand. The integrated technology will be demonstrated at TRL5 on off-gases from the energy intensive steel and refinery industries. Markets for both propane and propene are expected to grow in the coming years, such that the COZMOS technology will contribute to achieving a Circular Economy and diversified economic base in carbon-intensive regions.
Throughout the whole value chain development, emphasis will be placed on risk-mitigation pathways and strong industrial involvement, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis to maximise further exploitation and industrialisation of the results. Specific attention will be paid to social acceptance, including analysis of stakeholder and end-user interests.
During the first reporting period, main emphasis has been set on the development of catalysts with improved performance compared to state-of-the-art catalysts available at the start of the project. Parallel efforts were made on process design, up-scaling and life-cycle analysis (LCA) studies. In spite of the delays incurred by Covid-19 restrictions, which led to closure of laboratory facilities in M11-M14/M15, improvements in combined catalyst process performance towards the project’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been achieved in each of the first three 6-month periods. Initial LCA considerations suggest that certain catalyst elements should be avoided, and process alterations have been suggested based on catalyst performance data. A project web-site has been created (https://www.spire2030.eu/cozmos). It contains a news-feed with links to dissemination events and published material. During the first reporting period, 4 manuscripts based on COZMOS results were accepted for publication.
The project is well on track towards the final goals of the project with respect to catalyst performance and process design, as well as considerations of environmental, societal and economic aspects of the process.