RenewCO₂ Video Explainer

Critical Need for this Technology

As consumer demand for sustainable products rises, the need for fossil-free alternatives for packaging with the same properties as petrochemically-sourced materials increases. RenewCO₂’s electrolysis technology offers a carbon-negative monoethylene glycol (MEG) source, a drop-in replacement for petrochemical MEG with identical properties and higher purity.

MEG is one of the monomers of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), used to package food and beverages because it is hygienic, strong, resistant to attack by micro-organisms, and does not react with food products. Best of all, PET is the most recycled plastic in the United States and worldwide.

Replacement of conventional MEG production with a carbon negative production technology, such as RenewCO₂’s, will result in 91.6 Mton/yr CO₂ emissions mitigation (0.27% of global emissions), the equivalent of 5.7 million of the average American’s annual emissions. While this is far from a solution to global emissions on its own, it represents a major first step for this expanding technology.

Supplemental Need for this Technology

Variable and intermittent electricity from renewable sources frequently results in peaks of production which are mismatched with consumption, which in turn can overload the grid. Electrochemical production of chemicals can leverage surplus electricity to generate revenue while stabilizing the grid. Because these processes use low temperatures, start-up and shutdown are fast and allow for the operational flexibility needed for this application.

Potential CO2 Reduction

Conventionally, MEG is produced from fossil fuel feedstock. Electrochemical production of  monoethylene glycol (MEG) can use CO2 captured from various industrial sources or from the atmosphere as feedstock and low-emissions electricity to power the process, resulting in negative GHG emissions. The emissions reduction potential for RenewCO2 is 91.6 MtCO2e/year. Assuming instant 100% adoption of the RenewCO2 technology by the MEG market, there would be a negative 47.4 Mt/year of CO2 “emissions” from CO2 capture and use, plus avoid 44.2 Mt/year of CO2 emissions avoided from business as usual.

Competition

While electrochemical CO₂ reduction was discovered more than 30 years ago, the most studied catalysts require a large energy input to activate CO₂ for reaction, resulting in poor process economics. Energy efficiency above 90% towards MEG has been achieved on the cathode under ambient pressure and temperature.

Potential Markets

RenewCO2’s beachhead market is comprised by existing monomer manufacturers. Public awareness of the environmental impact of plastics has driven big players such as The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsico, and Danone to invest in green drop-in replacements to their conventional petrochemically sourced packaging materials. As public pressure continues to increase, more suppliers will need green alternatives to plastics, preferably with the same properties as the incumbents. Current MEG consumers will be able to source a green alternative from their conventional suppliers, to whom RenewCO₂ will be selling its technology.

Another customer group is comprised of companies who need to mitigate their purified CO₂ emissions (e.g. from biomass fermentation or CO₂ capture technology on flue-gas). In Europe, the cost of buying CO₂ credits may also be avoided if producers of plastics and monomers can demonstrate a carbon negative impact of their production.

Key Innovation

The key aspect of RenewCO₂’s technology is the discovery and engineering of the nickel phosphide catalysts to achieve more than 90% energy efficiency for the reduction of CO₂ to C₂, C₃ and C₄ products (e.g. monoethylene glycol, methylglyoxal and furandiol).

R & D Status of Project

The technology has been demonstrated at the lab scale, with results published in a peer-reviewed journal. Currently, RenewCO­₂ is developing a continuous process, with the goal of creating a demonstration unit to be tested together with a joint development partner in 2022.

Team Overview

Karin Calvinho, CTO: Dr. Karin Calvinho graduated from Rutgers University where she worked on the discovery of catalysts that can convert CO₂ into monomers. She has high-level hands-on experience in developing electrocatalysts, designing liquid-gas flow fields for electrolyzers, developing analytical methods and using operando spectroscopy to understand chemical reactivity at the molecular level.

Anders B. Laursen, CEO: Dr. Anders B. Laursen holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering with more than ten years of cumulative experience in electrochemistry and renewable energy storage. His experience includes electrochemical and photoelectrochemical hydrogen production (water splitting), materials synthesis, spectroscopic characterizations, and catalytic processes.

Charles Dismukes, CSO: Dr. Dismukes is a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers. As an inorganic chemist and biophysicist, he has a distinguished track record in catalyst design and characterization. To date, he published more than 220 papers and 7 patent applications covering natural water splitting enzymes, organometallic catalysts for water oxidation, hydrogen evolution and CO2 fixation, and solid-state materials for electrocatalysis of these same reactions.

Technology Profile

Status: TRL 4 – The technology has been demonstrated in laboratory scale.
Primary industry: Chemical Industry
Category: Cleantech, Carbon capture and utilization,

Estimated annual revenue: N/A
Employs: 2 co-founders plus 1 engineer
Social challenge: Climate Change, Energy security, Sustainable Manufacturing
R&D commercial collaborator: N/A