Using a catalyst to transform CO2 into valuable chemicals

In his 1875 novel ”The Mysterious Island”, Jules Verne wrote “I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen, which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable”.

The chemical industry is working hard to turn his dream into a reality. Replacing fossil fuels by hydrogen has many advantages. The most relevant for the environment being that the only emission from burning hydrogen is water vapour.

Not only can the chemical industry use hydrogen to reduce its own emissions, it can also help other industries to do the same. 6-8% of global CO₂ emissions come from the steel industry. Clariant has therefore launched a project to turn emissions from the steel industry into methanol using a catalyst. The methanol produced in this way can be used as low emission fuel for cars, trains, ships, and even planes. It also finds its way back into the chemical industry as a building block for chemicals such as formaldehyde and polypropylene.

How does it work? First, hydrogen can be produced from water using renewable energy (i.e. energy produced by sun, wind or water). This is a form of electrolysis. In parallel, the chemical industry captures CO₂ emissions released by the steel industry and removes impurities (i.e. unwanted substances). For this project, the next step is to purify the CO₂ into CO, CO₂ and N₂. Then, the renewable hydrogen is combined with the purified CO₂ emissions. The gas that results from this is then heated up in the presence of a catalyst to produce methanol.

Overall, this project proves that good collaboration and an effective and long-lasting catalyst can lead to recycled CO₂, significantly reducing a plant’s CO₂ footprint.

Associated SDG targets