Opening session: Andreas Pilzecker, European Commission; Søren Bøwadt, European Commission; Dr Lothar Mennicken, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF); Michael Carus, Managing Director, nova-Institute; Dr Martin Lange, Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and Kathryn Sheridan, Sustainability Consult. Bioenergy International No 82, 6-2015 19 HELD IN ESSEN, GERMANY under the patronage of Svenja Schulze, Minister of Innovation, Science and Research in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the 4th Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers attracted some 170 academic and industrial experts from 25 countries. The twoday conference was organised at the end of September by nova-Institute, a private independent research and consultancy focused on the biobased and carbon dioxide (CO₂) based economy. CO2 usage today With the exception of urea, aspirin and carbonates the industrial utilisation of CO₂ as a chemical feedstock is limited by thermodynamic and kinetic constraints. In contrast it is the properties that these constraints give rise to – inert, stable and heavier than air – that makes it a major commercial product for fire extinguishing systems, refrigerants and the food and beverage industry. Recent advances in carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies, so-called “power-to-x” pathways where x is a product, presented during the event suggest that CO₂ could become an industrial-scale feedstock for synthetic fuels and other key chemicals sooner not later. Visionary potential – The complete needs of energy sources and platform chemicals could be sustainable and covered with renewable energies and CCU technologies, stated Michael Carus, physicist and Managing Director of nova-Institute and conference organiser in his opening address. Carus highlighted that in 2050, 5-10 percent of the world’s desert area would be enough to cover both the global energy demand and the carbon needs of the chemical and polymer industry with solar power, even taking into account grid and storage construction. The cost to “solarise the world” he suggested would only be 5-10 years worth of the annual global spend of US$ 1 300 billion on arms and defence. – This implies that it is primarily a question of the right political guidance and of investments, whether we will have raw material shortage in the future or not, said Carus stressing the need and importance “to show society and politicians a positive vision, to encourage them to break new ground.” Katy Armstrong from the international CO2Chem network and the European research project Smart CO₂ Transformation (SCOT) cautioned against exaggerated expectations. – Much would be achieved if a pilot project could provide a local population with wind power and CCU fuels, remarked Armstrong, bringing to mind lessons learnt from talk of potentials and hype in other sectors such as cellulosic biofuels. Unadvoidable CO2 Dr Markus Friedl, Professor and Head of Institute for Energy Technology Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Switzerland reminded the audience that powerto gas only makes sense if using the methane produced has less negative impact on the environment than using fossil derived methane. First Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) for Switzerland suggest that this is only the case, if the following two conditions are fulfilled: the power used for the electrolyser is renewable and the CO₂ used in the methanation is of biological nature or its production is “unavoidable”. – Unavoidable means CO₂ that » MUCH ”TO DO” WITH CO2 As a fossil derived greenhouse gas (GHG), carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major problem and widespread efforts are being made to curtail its accumulation in the atmosphere. Parallel to source emission reduction policies and technologies, a new strand of research is rapidly emerging under the umbrella term “carbon (dioxide) capture and utilisation” (CCU). The focus is on looking at the world’s perhaps most frowned upon gas as a resource instead. FEATURE: RESIDUES TO RESOURCES Photo courtesy nova-Institute
Bioenergy no 6 October 2015
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