Conference on Sustainable Chemical Conversion in Industry

Germany is one of the leading industrial nations. Thus, it has a special responsibility in playing an active role in the implementation of the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the EU Commission's Green Deal without losing its competitiveness and the associated safeguarding of jobs. Energy-intensive industries such as the steel, chemical and cement industries are indispensable for European industry. Defossilisation and modernization of these industrial sectors are therefore of central importance.

Germany is also a country of innovation and as such, 18 partners from industry and research started to combine climate protection and competitiveness in the Carbon2Chem^® project in June 2016. As part of the joint project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, solutions are being worked on that produce a raw material for the chemical industry from the climate-damaging CO₂ produced in industrial production. By networking the various sectors and using renewable energies, CO₂ is turned into valuable raw material for the climate-friendly production of, for example, synthetic fuels, plastics or basic chemicals. The goal of Carbon2Chem^® is to make use of CO₂ emissions from German industrial processes sustainably by 2030.

During the third conference on "Sustainable Chemical Conversion in Industry",  we would like to discuss with you the achieved goals and the existing challenges for the implementation of innovative approaches like Carbon2Chem^®. How can Carbon2Chem^® support the industrial transformation? Please note the date already.

See you!

Organizers

BASIC RESEARCH
At the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, we find ways to efficiently convert energy into storable and usable forms. In this instance we particularly look for suitable catalysts for the chemical reactions required. Industry generally tries to cut CO₂ through avoidance, and industry in Germany is already working with minimal use of carbon. However, complete avoidance is not possible. With Carbon2Chem^®, we are developing a modular system for these industries from which modules for implementing the energy transition can be created.


APPLIED RESEARCH
As an institute whose motto is "production without raw materials", we fit perfectly into this project. For several years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT has been conducting research in projects that have set themselves the goal of further reducing both CO₂ emissions and the extraction of fossil fuels, and instead work with "waste products" such as the top gases that inevitably arise in steel production, in order to use them for the production of chemicals such as methanol. That is why, with Carbon2Chem^®, we want to recycle carbon after it has formed during steel production, so that it is not released but instead is sustainably reused on site.

INDUSTRY
Together with the scientific community and other industrial partners, thyssenkrupp is the first industrial enterprise to conduct pioneering work in this field. We are not pursuing a single solution, but rather a set of solutions that can also be used by other smelting works and industries. All technology modules should ultimately be interlinkable. Our first application on an industrial scale is in the steel sector – a very CO₂-intensive industry. This way we are undertaking preparatory work in the industrial environment, so that we can eventually extend the modules to other industry sectors. Which is something that benefits us as a diversified corporation.

Circle of participants

Experts from politics, economy and science as well as all project participants.