Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland -EnOp

7-CO2 technologies, CO2-7 prototypes

We produce too much CO2, which causes climate change through global warming. Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro, tidal and geothermal energy are needed to reduce CO2 emissions. To close the CO2 cycle more progress is needed. Use of CO2 as a carbon source or as a means of chemical energy storage can provide a solution.

Projectomschrijving

Power generation from renewable sources is usually done on a smaller scale than conventional energy generating from coal or gas. The disadvantage is that the availability of energy from renewable sources is variable. Sometimes there no wind and sun. To keep the energy system flexible, reliable and accessible (chemical) energy storage is essential. In the project CO2 for energy storage’ (ENOP) systems for energy storage and materials are developed based on CO2. Within this project 10 research partners cooperate to evaluate 7 technologies for CO2 capture and utilization.  The project is coordinated by Brighthouse.

Doelstellingen

 EnOp is a project that aims to bring 7 technologies for renewable energy and CO2 storage (CCU) to demonstrator facilities to learn about bottlenecks for scale-up.

The 7 technologies are listed below in no particular order:

• Use of algae for CO2 conversion to specialty chemicals
• Solar-plasmon conversion of CO2 to basic chemicals
• Foto/Solar-electrochemical CO2 conversion to fuels
• Plasma based conversion of CO2 to Syngas
• Bio-electrochemical conversion of CO2 and integrated extraction of basic chemicals
• Catalytic plasma based conversion of CO2 to chemicals
• Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to biodegradable plastic precursors

Rol van Universiteit Gent

Ghent university participated by developing a scaled-up bioelectrochemical system for conversion, extraction and conversion of CO2 into useable carbon molecules. The process is based on microbial electrosynthesis (MES) where bacteria are able to use electricity to convert CO2 into organic molecules.

 Patil, S. A., J. B. A. Arends, et al. (2015). "Selective Enrichment Establishes a Stable Performing Community for Microbial Electrosynthesis of Acetate from CO2." Environmental Science & Technology 49(14): 8833-8843.

Gildemyn, S., et al. (2015). "Integrated Production, Extraction, and Concentration of Acetic Acid from CO2 through Microbial Electrosynthesis." Environmental Science & Technology Letters 1(11): 325-328. 

Contact

Prof. Korneel Rabaey
Department of Biochemical and microbial technology (LA06)
Phone: +32 9 264 59 76 or +32 9 264 59 89
E-mail: korneel.rabaey@ugent.be

Dr. Jan Arends
Department biochemical and microbial technology (LA06)
Phone: +32 9 264 59 76 
E-mail: jan.arends@ugent.be