KIT tests carbon capture and reuse in industry
Karlsruhe researchers have developed a process for carbon capture and reuse. It is being used in an industrial plant.
The NECOC pilot plant at KIT
(Image: Markus Breig / KIT)
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached its highest level since records began. To stop climate change, the greenhouse gas must be removed from the atmosphere. A team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a possible solution. It is now being used on an industrial scale for the first time.
As part of the No Emissions through converting Carbondioxide to Carbon (NECOC) project, launched in 2020, a process was developed to separate carbon dioxide from exhaust gases and then convert it into powder. “We produce a high-purity carbon powder that can be used as a raw material or stored safely,” describes project manager Benjamin Dietrich from the Institute for Thermal Process Engineering (TVT) at KIT.
The process is now ready for large-scale industrial use: it is being tested in a factory in Singen, Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, which manufactures axle and brake components for the automotive industry.
Carbon dioxide is separated from exhaust gases
Coke is used in cast iron production as a fuel to heat the furnace, but also in metallurgical processes. This results in carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, the exhaust gases from the furnace are to be captured. The carbon dioxide contained in them is concentrated and then fed into the NECOC plant.
It first produces methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This is passed through a tin melt heated to over 1000 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, methane becomes unstable and breaks down into its components, carbon and hydrogen. The gaseous hydrogen and carbon rise in bubbles, with the latter being deposited as a solid on the bubble wall. The hydrogen is then drawn off and further used in the process.
The solid carbon is used as fuel in this project and replaces the coke produced from fossil fuels in the furnace. However, other applications are also conceivable: the researchers are testing its use in building materials or as electrode material for batteries. Initial tests have shown “promising results,” according to the researchers.
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“We are closing carbon cycles,” says Dietrich. “What still escapes today as climate-damaging emissions will gradually become part of a circular industry.”
Another project is already being planned: KIT will install a NECOC plant in a waste incineration plant, where carbon dioxide emissions also occur.
(wpl)
