Results of the BMBF funding measure Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection – Chemical Processes and Use of CO2 Alexis Bazzanella, Dennis Krämer (Editors) 2017 IMPRINT Publisher: DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25 60486 Frankfurt/Main Germany Dr. Alexis Bazzanella Phone: +49 69 7564 343 Email: [email protected] Dennis Krämer Phone: +49 69 7564 618 Email: [email protected] Layout: PM-Grafikdesign Peter Mück 63607 Wächtersbach Germany Email: [email protected] Printed by: Seltersdruck & Verlag Lehn GmbH + Co. KG. 65618 Selters (Taunus) Germany Email: [email protected] ISBN 978-3-89746-200-7 Date: January 2019 The project on which this report is based was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the respective authors.. Images: Front cover: © Thinkstock; page 2: © Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung-Jesco Denzel; Page 107: © frank peters-stock.adobe.com; Seite 276: © Thinkstock-NicoElNino Results of the BMBF funding measure Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection – Chemical Processes and Use of CO2 Alexis Bazzanella, Dennis Krämer (Editors) 1 FOREWORD Foreword by Dr. Georg Schütte, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research When it comes to identifying the greatest global challenges current- ly faced, the impact of climate change and the need to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels are seen to be two sides of the same coin. Finding solutions and proposing new courses of action are key ob- jectives of the scientific and research communities. But the road to a green economy is not without its obstacles and new approaches are therefore needed to resolve controversial issues and to identify the right path to take. One example of this type of new approach is the use of carbon dioxide as a material resource. As a green- house gas, CO2 is present in almost inexhaustible quantities and making use of it as a chemical feedstock will lessen the chemical industry’s dependence on oil as the main source of the carbon building blocks that the chemical sector requires. This not only broadens the raw materials base in the chemical indus- try, it also reduces consumption of petroleum feedstocks. Carbon emissions will also be correspondingly lower. In combination with renewable energy sources, CO2 can be converted into sustainable energy storage materials and fuels. In the period from 2010 to 2016, the funding programme ‘Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection – Chemical Processes and Use of CO2’ supported a total of 33 collaborative projects. In this globally unique research programme, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) provided 100 million euros to support the three main areas: ‘CO2 Utilisation’, ‘Chemical energy storage systems’ and ‘Energy-efficient chemical processes’. A further 50 million euros in funding was injected by participating companies. The projects in the research programme have helped to position Germany at the very forefront of technology development in this highly innovative sector. In one of the funded projects, for example, synthetic diesel was produced for the first time from CO2, water and renewable energy. The first industrial facility for the production of CO2-based foam components is now on stream. These and other results from the research programme are described in detail in this publication. The success achieved shows that we are on the right path. There is, however, still a significant need for more research in key technological areas, such as photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. The BMBF has therefore decided to fund a follow-up programme entitled ‘CO2Plus – Utilisation of CO2 to Expand the Resource Base’, which will run until 2019 and will support a further 13 collaborative projects with part- ners from academia and industry who will be addressing presently unresolved questions regarding CO2 capture and utilisation. The BMBF will continue to cooperate with innovative companies in order to transform promising re- search results into industrial applications and thus deliver key research-driven input aimed at achieving a sustainable economy. Dr. Georg Schütte State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research 2 EDITORS’ FOREWORD Dear reader, Over the last few years, public awareness and understanding of the concept of using carbon dioxide as a material resource have been raised through articles in nearly all major German newspapers, through specialist books and publications, papers in scientific and technical journals, events and even televi- sion reports. The depth of coverage has ranged from the very broad and general to the highly specific and aca demic. Newspaper articles and specialist technical papers can of course only ever cover certain parts or specific aspects of the field. On the other hand, the books published on the subject are highly specialised and academic in nature. Our aim with this final report on the research and development pro- gramme ‘Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection – Chemical Processes and Use of CO2’ that was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has been to bridge the gap between the very general and the highly specific and to present a comprehensive review of this important field to the widest possible audience. The report is structured to give readers the opportunity to move from a general overview of the field to more detailed descriptions and discussions of the cur- rent state of the art. We believe that this report offers something of value for interested members of the general public as well as to experts working in the field. The BMBF-funded research and development programme ‘Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection – Chemical Processes and Use of CO2’ ran from 2010 to the end of 2016 and covered the fol- lowing main areas: ‘Using CO2 as a material resource’, ‘Chemical energy storage’ and ‘Energy-efficient processes’. Each of these main areas is accompanied in this final report by a review article that pro- vides a comprehensive overview of the topic. The 33 projects that received funding have been classified into these three main areas or clusters. A short article has been provided for each research project and focuses on presenting the central results of the project. In the ‘Energy-efficient processes’ cluster, the review article, which covers the subject of carbon capture, serves as an example of the very diverse range of projects grouped in this part of the report. The BMBF-funded research and development programme also included an accompanying impact as- sessment and communication project that was managed by DECHEMA and as part of which academics at Berlin Technical University analysed the potential leverage that can be achieved by the programme. The CO2Net project also attempted to establish a consensus on a uniform approach to conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs) for research projects concerned with utilising CO2 as a material resource. As a result of that work, it was decided to include a specialist article that provides practical guidelines on conducting LCAs. Chapter 4 therefore offers methodological guidance drawn up by a team of authors from the ifeu Institute for Energy and Environmental Research on implementing carbon accounting mechanisms for processes in the chemical industry. The objective of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the project organisers and the mem- bers of the impact assessment and communication project team was to identify early on any synergies that existed between the research projects and to encourage and promote their use. Exploiting such syn- ergies would, however, not have been possible without the support of the project teams themselves. The same is true for the organisation of a series of successful conferences, workshops and other PR events. We would therefore like to convey our sincere thanks to all those involved in the funded projects and express our gratitude for the outstanding support we have received throughout the programme. This applies in particular to the work required to compile this final report in book form, especially in view of the fact that a number of projects were completed two years before the book’s publication date. The editors would also like to thank the authors of the various articles and Mr Mück for his work on the graphical layout of the publication. The editors Alexis Bazzanella, Dennis Krämer 3 INHALTSVERZEICHNIS Seite I Imprint II Foreword BMBF – Georg Schütte 2 III Editors’ Foreword (DECHEMA) 3 CO2Net – Supporting the programme, assessing its impact and communicating the results 6 1 CO2 Utilization 12 1.1 CO2 Utilization – Motivation, Challenges, Outlook 12 (Dipl.-Ing. Dennis Krämer, Dr. Alexis Bazzanella, DECHEMA e.V.) Funded Projects: 1.2 DreamReaction 32 1.3 CO2 as a polymer building block 37 1.4 DreamProduction 44 1.5 Valery – Energy efficient synthesis of aliphatic aldehydes from alkanes and carbon 50 dioxide: Valeraldehyde from butane and CO2 1.6 ECCO2 – Combinatorial electrocatalytic CO2 reduction 54 1.7 COOBAF – Chemical Processes – Collaborative project: CO2-based acetone fermentation 62 1.8 DMEexCO2 – Integrated dimethyl ether synthesis from methane and CO2 68 1.9 DreamPolymers 74 1.10 FfPaG – Solid and liquid products from gases 80 1.11 PhotoKat – Developing active and selective photocatalysts for the reduction 88 of CO2 to form