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A new era of energy: district heating and cooling that uses CO2
CategoriesSustainable News

A new era of energy: district heating and cooling that uses CO2

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Almost 25 per cent of the energy produced worldwide is used to heat and cool homes and commercial buildings. And the process of generating this energy is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. District heating and cooling systems are one potential solution. These generate heat centrally and distribute it across a network of buildings in the same neighbourhood, which is more efficient than heating or cooling buildings individually. Usually, such systems use water to transfer heat, but now, Swiss cleantech startup ExerGo is using CO2 as an energy transfer fluid for its closed-loop system.

The CO2 is the basis of a thermal network powered by renewable resources and waste heat. By using liquid and vapour CO2 as a working fluid, the system increases energy transport efficiency over conventional water-based systems. This greater efficiency, in turn, allows for the use of small and more flexible piping, which can save up to 60 per cent in installation costs and time, while reducing noise and air pollution. ExerGo claims that its compact network can save up to 80 per cent in primary energy consumption over comparable fossil fuel-based systems.

In October last year, ExerGo won the European Heat Pump Association‘s Heat Pump City of the Year Award for the successful implementation of its technology in Sion, Switzerland.

Springwise has spotted other technologies that are helping to decarbonise the energy-intensive cooling and heating systems used around the world, including a heat pump that is powered by sound and affordable geothermal heating and cooling systems.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Turning marine CO2 emissions into useful pebbles
CategoriesSustainable News

Turning marine CO2 emissions into useful pebbles

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Proposed international regulations will mandate at least a 40 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions from ships by 2030. Alisha Fredriksson, co-founder and CEO of London-based company Seabound, discovered that shipowners lack feasible options to meet this requirement.

The realisation motivated Fredriksson to develop a solution, leading to Seabound’s lime-based carbon capture equipment, which can be installed near a ship’s smokestack to capture up to 95 per cent of CO2 emissions from the exhaust.

To curb the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Seabound implements its carbon capture system near its funnel. Quicklime pellets are consistently introduced into the device, undergoing chemical reactions with CO2 in the exhaust to form limestone. Upon docking, the pellets can then be used for future CO2 capture on other vessels, sold as construction materials, or divided into pure CO2 for various purposes.

Seabound’s innovative technology holds promise for various vessel types, including container ships, cruise ships, and dry bulk carriers. What sets this company apart is its seamless retrofitting capability for existing ships, rendering decarbonisation of shipping more accessible, rapid, and scalable.

The startup recently achieved a key milestone when, in partnership with global shipping company Lomar, it completed a successful pilot of its technology on-board a commercial container ship. The 240-metre-long vessel, which was chartered by liner shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, was equipped with a prototype version of the system that captured around one tonne of CO2 per day. Having completed the pilot, Seabound will now progress to creating its first full-scale systems, which it hopes to deliver commercially from 2025 onwards.

Springwise has previously spotted other innovators looking to make the maritime industry greener, including a startup that’s developed a ship-cleaning robot and a company that’s presented concept designs for a zero-emission ship.

Written By: Georgia King

Reference

Could we make milk from CO2?
CategoriesSustainable News

Could we make milk from CO2?

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Over 80 per cent of the global population regularly consumes milk and other dairy products, with approximately 37 million metric tonnes of fresh dairy produce being consumed around the European Union each year. All of this consumption has an impact on the planet, with cattle – including dairy cows – responsible for 65 per cent of the world’s total livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions. Due to concerns over these negative environmental impacts, it’s possible that production of milk in the EU will be dropping 0.2 per cent a year by 2032. 

To avoid the emissions and related land-use changes and soil degradation currently caused by the dairy industry, a new project is looking for inspiration from the air. Finnish startup Solar Foods has developed a proprietary microbe that feeds on hydrogen and carbon dioxide from the air to create a high-protein ingredient, Solein, which has already been approved for sale in Singapore. 

Springwise first spotted Solar Foods back in 2019, but since then the company has made great strides. In September 2023, it was revealed that Solar Foods will lead a consortium including the University of Groningen, RWTH Aachen University, and FGen AG, that will explore the use of the same technology for the production of milk. 

Backed by €5.5 million worth of funding from the European Innovation Council, the ‘HYDROCOW’ project aims to create a microbe that, using water and electricity, can convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into beta-lactoglobulin – a whey protein that is a main component of dairy milk.  

Combining expertise from all participants in the project, including FGen’s superior screening process and the University of Groningen’s genetic modification techniques, the project will design, test, and modify the best protein-secreting microbe to create milk. If successful the techniques and technologies could be used to create a huge variety of animal-free proteins in future, for food and pharmaceutical applications. 

Back in May this year, Solar Foods also partnered with Japanese company the Ajinomoto Group to test the marketability of Solein products from the beginning of 2024.

Springwise has spotted other innovators looking to change up typical milk production, including by using no cows in India and a countertop plant milk brewer for home use.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

The future of construction: building with CO2
CategoriesSustainable News

The future of construction: building with CO2

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The global carbon capture and storage (CCS) market has increased significantly in recent years, and is projected to continue growing as the world looks for more ways to decarbonise. Often though, these solutions focus on storage underground, offering no commercial value. Paebbl’s technology, by contrast, turns carbon dioxide into a useful building material. 

Paebbl took the inspiration for its technology directly from nature. Carbon dioxide mineralisation, the process by which CO2 solidifies and turns into stone, is naturally occurring, but takes centuries to complete. Paebbl has found a non-energy-intensive way to accelerate mineralisation to make it over one million times faster, taking just 60 minutes.  

The company takes CO2 captured from the air or directly from polluting industrial sites and combines it with abundantly available silicate rocks to produce a carbon-negative raw material. 

This end product can be used as a filler in construction, as a replacement for parts of a concrete mix, and as paper, among other purposes. Unlike many methods of carbon storage or carbon-negative materials, the company also states that its material can be competitively priced.

Paebbl recently commissioned a 500-litre batch production unit, called Obelix, which has enabled the company to boost production capacity by 100 times in just half a year. With Obelix, Paebbl can create 100 tonnes of sustainable construction materials every year. The company expects to start shipping samples early 2024.

It’s not just the construction industry that’s using carbon to create new materials – Springwise has also spotted innovators turning it into chemicals and E-jet fuels.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

Turning CO2 emissions into sustainable chemicals
CategoriesSustainable News

Turning CO2 emissions into sustainable chemicals

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: As industries around the world push ahead in their plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some of the changes being introduced are, ironically, contributing to the continued growth in the global plastics market. As vehicles seek to reduce weight in order to run more efficiently, plastics are often one of the first materials to be considered as a replacement for steel and other heavy metals. That is only a short-term solution, however, as UN member states negotiate a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.  

Innovators are increasingly looking for multi-purpose solutions to the complex plastics problem. Many companies seek to reduce waste or emissions while cleaning current damage to the environment. One such company, Paris-based Dioxycle, created a system that uses industry emissions as feedstock for the production of sustainable manufacturing of the chemical ethylene.  

The process directly captures emissions from manufacturing plants and separates the carbon from impurities. After cleaning, the captured carbon passes through layers of catalytic membranes in the company’s proprietary low-temperature electrolyser. Powered by renewable energy, the carbon is then transformed into ethylene, a building block of modern manufacturing. The chemical is used in heavy industry to produce products that range from diesel and ethanol to recyclable plastics, adhesives, and furniture. Dioxycle’s goal is to recycle 600 megatonnes of carbon annually and it is currently testing the technology in two locations – one in France and one in California.  

An important aspect of the system is its affordability. The company explicitly works to provide end users with a sustainable ethylene chemical product that is equal to or lower in cost than fossil fuel-produced versions.

In the archive, other innovations spotted by Springwise that highlight ways of using captured carbon include nanotubing that could replace copper wires in myriad items and carbon-negative textiles.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Sequestered CO2 turned into carbon fibre and wastewater treatment chemicals
CategoriesSustainable News

Sequestered CO2 turned into carbon fibre and wastewater treatment chemicals

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Mars Materials is a California-based startup working to commercialise technology developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Using captured carbon dioxide, the process creates acrylonitrile (ACN), which is a building block for carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is used in plastics, rubbers, and chemicals, as well as in steel and aluminum production. 

By reducing the need to create new chemicals, businesses using the material reduce their production emissions while putting captured carbon to extended use. Financially, the material could be a significant cost saver for companies as the Mars Materials team says that using the new method results in lower production costs than current systems. 

Overall, the company plans to put at least a gigatonne (one billion tonnes) of captured carbon into everyday use. When used in carbon fibre applications and as a base material for chemical manufacturing, the sequestered emissions could soon be in products at every corner shop. Having recently closed a pre-seed round of funding that raised $660,000, the company plans to begin producing product samples to test with manufacturers. The organisation’s two founders were also announced as Breakthrough Energy Fellows, recognition that comes with support for accelerating their innovation. 

Captured carbon is being used in an increasingly varied range of applications. Springwise has spotted onboard emissions being used to power ships and alternative proteins fermented with captured carbon.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Capturing CO2 from vehicle exhausts – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Capturing CO2 from vehicle exhausts – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Although the world is gradually moving towards the production of only electric vehicles (EVs), petroleum-powered vehicles will remain in use for many decades. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing that can be done to mitigate the emissions from those existing vehicles. To help, startup Qaptis has developed a technology that it claims can capture 90 per cent of CO2 emissions from internal combustion engines.

The technology uses heat from the engine to power reversible thermochemical reactions to capture and compress CO2 to a liquid before it escapes from the tailpipe. Once in liquid form, the CO2 is stored onboard, before being collected. It can then be upcycled into new fuel, plastics, or carbon fibres – or sold to CO2 end-users such as fertiliser manufacturers.

Qaptis, which was spun off from Swiss university EPLF, is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and has received a seed loan from the Foundation for Technological Innovation, as well as funds from a crowdfunding campaign. The company hopes to develop the technology in the form of a kit, which can be easily retrofitted to existing vehicles.

Qaptis is not the only company that is working to reduce the emissions of existing vehicles. US startup Remora Carbon is developing similar technology developed at the University of Michigan. Other companies are developing novel ways to lock up CO2, such as turning it to stone or sequestering it in giant algae ponds. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

19th May 2022

Email: info@qaptis.com

Website: qaptis.com

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