How Waste CO2 Is Helping to Turn Renewable Energy into Liquid Fuel

by Rex Merrifield (Horizon, The EU Research and Innovation Magazine) Storing power generated by strong winds or bright sunshine by turning it into liquid fuel such as methanol can help to ensure green energy does not go to waste, without having to rely on batteries.

Methanol can be made from CO2 captured from industrial sources, combined with hydrogen split out of water using surplus renewable energy. And the resulting fuel can be used in cars or ships, reducing the use of fossil fuels as well as emissions of greenhouse gases.

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Cuesta (David Cuesta, of the Spanish energy consultancy i-deals) coordinated the MefCO2 project, which showed how industry can play a role in conserving renewable energy as it is produced and help to absorb some of the fluctuations inherent in sustainable energy production.

The project used carbon capture technology at a coal-fired power plant in Germany to demonstrate the process, storing some of the emissions as methanol.

Reproducing the process at scale could also help to reduce EU imports of methanol, which is easily stored and transported but currently produced from fossil raw materials. In addition to its use as fuel, methanol is a feedstock with widespread use in the chemical industry.

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Hydrogen made from renewables has long been recognised as a clean fuel, but taking the extra step to make methanol provides a higher energy density product, without the technical demands of high-pressure storage and transport, or the need to provide new infrastructure for use by retail consumers.

One hurdle to using renewable energy to split off the hydrogen from oxygen in water was the demand by some electrolysis systems for constant supplies of power. But using innovations such as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology allows flexibility in adjusting to natural fluctuations in conditions.

MefCO2 also paved the way for renewables to be harnessed by other carbon-emitting industries, such as steelmaking, where i-deals is coordinating the FReSMe project to produce methanol as a fuel for ocean-going ferries. Large-scale battery-powered engines may not be viable for such ships, but methanol may be accommodated readily.

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Ballarino (Andrea Ballarino, of Italy’s Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing (STIIMA-CNR)) coordinated the SYMBIOPTIMA project, which showed that one company could tailor a byproduct to meet the needs of another user, turning it into extra income as well as lowering costs for the buyer who could avoid purchasing some primary raw material.

Embracing that approach brings industry together to play a pivotal role in reducing waste of all kinds. SYMBIOPTIMA also focused on making savings in energy use at the level of individual factories, while smoothing out collective demand for power from the grid, including renewables, and being able to plan ahead more accurately.

SYMBIOPTIMA used close monitoring of industrial processes and cooperation between companies to demonstrate they could make energy cost-savings of the order of 10%-15%. READ MORE