Following a three-year carbon capture and utilization project, VTT and LUT University claim to have converted biogenic carbon dioxide from waste incineration and the forest industry into polypropylene, polyethylene, and other ‘high-value-added’ products.
Funded by Business Finland, the Forest CUMP research project sought to find out how different technologies could create renewable plastic raw materials using carbon dioxide and green hydrogen. Rather than focusing on fuels, it sought to capture biobased carbon dioxide in long-lasting polymer products.
“We investigated through pilot activities and modelling, how the biogenic carbon dioxide recovery chain can be adapted to existing petrochemical plants and the production of key basic plastics,” explains Juha Lehtonen, research professor at VTT. “For rapid and significant replacement of fossil feedstocks with renewable ones, technologies need to be adapted to the currently existing production facilities.”
VTT raises the example of separating hydrocarbons, which is considered an expensive long-term investment due to the equipment required. As such, it recommends adapting renewable raw material processes to existing industrial equipment.
“Our research showed that the low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch process is a technically and economically promising alternative for the production of renewable polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene,” says Lehtonen.
“We can use Fischer-Tropsch naphtha directly in existing petrochemical processes as a feedstock for the above-mentioned plastics without major additional investments into current petrochemical units (e.g. distillation and separation processes or steam cracker).
“Producing the necessary hydrocarbons through alternative process routes such as methanol or the high-temperature Fischer-Tropsch process would require expensive investments in production facilities.”
To come to this conclusion, the researchers utilized carbon capture technology developed by LUT University, CarbonReuse Finland, and Ekotuhka Oy. Dilute flue gas carbon dioxide (10-15%) was purified and enriched into approximately 95% carbon dioxide, which VTT converted into hydrocarbons in hopes of achieving maximum ethylene and propylene yields for polyethylene and polypropylene production.
At this stage, local flue gas carbon dioxide has been converted into the necessary raw materials at VTT Bioruukki. The same technology is anticipated for use in forest industry plants, and other locations where biobased carbon dioxide is produced, in the future.
Since it is home to ‘large, relatively easily exploitable individual sources of biobased carbon dioxide’ – for example, forest industry production facilities – Finland is believed to be able to replace fossil-based carbon feedstocks with its ‘significant’ biogenic carbon dioxide reserves.
“The capture of wood-based carbon dioxide offers a significant opportunity for Finland to build new industrial value chains while simultaneously reducing the use of fossil raw materials,” claims Kaija Pehu-Lehtonen, the project manager of Metsä Group’s carbon capture initiative. “The experimental work and piloting conducted within the Forest CUMP project provide valuable insights into the potential of carbon dioxide as a raw material for plastics.”
Furthermore, Finland’s energy and hydrogen infrastructure is set to be compatible with renewable energy sources and hydrogen; in theory, this supports a future transition into large-scale green hydrogen production, wherein renewable energy powers the water electrolysis process.
Research undertaken by VTT suggests that it would require 60 TWh of renewable electricity to convert 10 million tons of biogenic carbon dioxide into renewable products; Finland’s yearly electricity consumption is placed at around 85 TWh.
Therefore, processing 10 million tons of carbon dioxide and one million tons of hydrogen would apparently yield around 3 million tons of diesel fuel, which is thought to match Finland’s total annual consumption.
Since Finland is already believed to have around 30 Mt/a of large, biobased sources of CO2, coming in at over 0.1 Mt/a each, it is expected to already have the necessary raw materials and infrastructure for industrial-scale production.
Borealis is one of several participators in the Forest CUMP project, which in turn forms part of its SPIRIT programme – an initiative intended to source renewable and recycled feedstocks for the carbon-neutral production of plastics, among other objectives.
“This significant development project supports the transition to renewable solutions in the plastics industry,” says Ismo Savallampi, the manager responsible for renewable feedstock research projects at Borealis.
“In our vision, biobased carbon can be bound into long-lasting plastic products such as coatings and insulations for electrical cables, various pipe applications, or recyclable packaging products.
“The route identified in the research makes this technically feasible, but widespread commercial use still requires both increased demand for renewable solutions and improvements in hydrogen economy technologies.”
“Finland has immense potential to become a leading European country in the utilization of biogenic carbon dioxide,” adds Lehtonen. “Each year, around 30 million tonnes of biogenic CO2 are generated in Finland.
“If captured and converted into valuable products, this could position Finland as a major producer and exporter of carbon dioxide and hydrogen-based chemicals, polymers, and transport fuels.”
Last year, Fortum Recycling & Waste reported that it has captured CO2 emissions from waste incineration and converted them into biodegradable plastic. Describing this process as a ‘world first’, the company sought to lower and harness industrial carbon dioxide emissions, with the resultant plastics said to offer the same properties as fossil-based virgin plastics while closing the carbon cycle.
enfinium also launched a carbon capture pilot at an energy-from-waste site said to capture one tonne of CO2 emissions every day. This is hoped to prove the feasibility of carbon capture at scale, with enfinium set to gather real operational data on performance, including CO2 capture rate and solvent degradation, and roll out the technology across its six UK facilities.
In another recent development, VTT has licensed Olefy, its mixed plastic recycling technology, to Refinity in hopes of supporting its waste recovery technologies; these are expected to recycle even poor-quality plastic waste into new plastics meeting the quality standards of new products, making them suitable for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries, among others.
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