Carbon2Chem® Conference 2023

"Carbon" as well as "Infrastructure and Societal Transformation" are the focal points of the 6th Conference on Sustainable Chemical Conversion in Industry on October 17, 2023. After a keynote speech by Prof. Robert Schlögl (President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), we look forward to an exchange with the partners of the joint project Carbon2Chem^®, our speakers and the participants. Accompanying we inform in a poster exhibition about the results of the current research activities.

Since 2016, 22 partners from industry and science have been researching the implementation of a cross-industrial network for the production of products from generated CO₂ in the joint project Carbon2Chem^®. The upscaling of the developed processes to pilot plant scale and in some cases to industrial scale is the focus of Phase II of the joint project, which will run until May 2024. Further networking with other projects and industrial sectors is essential. Political support and social acceptance of the Carbon2Chem^® approach also play an important role. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

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.