Business opportunity

Transformation of C1 molecules (CO, CO2, CH4, CH3OH, and HCOOH) play  an important role in providing energy and chemical supplies. In the post-fossil era, natural gas as carbon and hydrogen source needs to be replaced, and new synthesis routes are sought. Ideally, those routes should mitigate the energy loss of today’s multi-stage processes with large changes in temperature and pressure from stage to stage. The use of CO2 as carbon source for chemical industry is currently a hot topic with huge potential. This is further driven by EU requirements of minimum 40% input factors to chemical industry from industry off-gases.

CO2 can be a sustainable carbon source and replace the use of fossil fuels for energy consumption and chemicals production, but its transformation to useful products is hampered by its low energy content. Energy may be provided by hydrogen as co-reactant. In this way, CO2 and hydrogen sourced from renewable, carbon-neutral energy sources can be transformed into e.g. the C3 hydrocarbons propane and propene. Propane can be used as a heating, cooking and transportation fuel, and propene is a valuable chemical building block for lightweight polymers and other chemical intermediates.

Inven2 offers a catalyst for preparing lower olefins from CO2 in a single reactor. We seek partners for co-development and/or licensing of the technology and are interested to validate the technology together with user partners.

Technology description

Scientists at the University of Oslo have developed a catalyst that combines with other catalysts in one reactor, where CO2 (CO) first is converted to methanol and then to light olefins by use of zeolite/zeotype materials and divalent metallic catalytic species (e.g. Mg2+). The CO2 (CO) is included in a mixed gaseous feed stream with one or more components of the following: CO2, CO, H2, H2O, MeOH and dimethyl ether in contact with a MAPO catalyst. The technology is adaptable, such that the primary product can be varied depending on renewable energy available, industrial infrastructure, amount of CO2, and economic requirements.

Advantages

• Sustainable off-take of industrial CO2/CO waste and production of demanded chemicals: Circular economy
• Scalable and flexible process
• Superior catalytic performance: Higher activity, stability, and C2-C4 olefin selectivity

IPR and publications 

• Patent pending, filed Dec. 2020.
• Xie, Jingxiu & Olsbye, Unni (2023). The Oxygenate-Mediated Conversion of COx to Hydrocarbons ─ On the Role of Zeolites in Tandem Catalysis. Chemical Reviews. ISSN 0009-2665. 123(20), s. 11775–11816. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00058