On 6-7 December 2016, nova-Institute hosted the “5th Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers“ in Cologne, Germany. With 180 participants from industry, science and policy, the event was one of the biggest on Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) worldwide so far.
Leading experts on CCU discussed the latest developments and future potential of CO2 use and presented their new technologies. These activities have the potential to revolutionize the whole energy, chemical and plastic sector. Representatives of the European Commission, the German Ministry of Education and Research and Climate KIC updated the participants on the activities towards CCU.
Methanol is without any doubt the first interesting target chemical from CO2 produced on a chemical pathway. It can be efficiently produced from CO2 and hydrogen and is the starting point of the production of a wide range of fuels and chemicals. On the biotech pathway, methane, butanol and even lactic acid are – among others – in the focus of the developments. The US company Phytonix, bronze sponsor, presented algae farms to produce competitive butanol from CO2. Greenpeace Energy showed how important CCU and especially Windgas is for reaching high shares of renewable energies.
Silver sponsor Covestro (Germany) did not only showcase the first polyurethane foams and mattresses made from CO2, whose production started in June this year, but also presented concepts to develop a range of building-blocks and polymers based on CO2.
To speed up the implementation of CCU, nova-Institute and partners presented a petition for full integration of CCU fuels in the new Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).
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22 December 2016
