Oxalic acid from CO2 using Electrochemistry At demonstratioN scale

PARTNER 1

ERIC a.i.s.b.l. (European Research Institute of Catalysis) is an Association International Sans Bout Lucratif (nonprofit society) with the registered office in Belgium. ERIC a.i.s.b.l. is the Durable Integration Structure (DIS) created from the EU Network of Excellence IDECAT (NMP3-CT-2005-011730). ERIC is currently composed by over 20 partners with large activities on catalysis. ERIC will manage and coordinate the project with proper personnel, while the scientific part related to the development of the electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction to formic acid/formate will be made at the Research Unit located at the University of Messina, Italy (member of ERIC aisbl).

PARTNER 2

GASKATEL is active in the field of electrochemistry. Besides the sales of standard products GSKL manufactures custom-tailored gas diffusion electrodes for various applications with its manufacturing line that is capable forsmall sample electrodes as well as for quantities up to 100 linear metres. The advantage of the used manufacturing process is the excellent scalability. In OCEAN, GSKL will upscale the GDE’s to 0.2 m2

PARTNER 3

GENSORIC is based on more than 20 years of research, which has led to more than 60 peer-reviewed articles andabout 10 international patent-families. The company is equipment with an state-of-the-art electrochemical infrastructure. Its interdisciplinary R&D-team combines electrochemistry, electro-engineering and business development. Furthermore GENS has reliable partnerships to excellent research-institutes e.g. Fraunhofer and Helmholtz and leading suppliers for electrochemistry-laboratories. GENS have core business in the commercialization of novel electrodes, particularly with modulated performances. This new type of large scale electrodes developed during OCEAN opens great perspective markets and is a central element of their core interests

PARTNER 4

HYSYTECH A chemical engineering company specialized in the development, manufacturing, certification and operation of first of a kind plants. HST is a core technology developer for reformers, fuel cells and BOP components, service supplier in research, engineering, production and stationary&dynamic application level; supplier of components, chemical reactors, pilot plants and bench test. HST will design manufacture the formate to oxalate reactor, as well as manufacture the electrochemical cell for the Demo Cell.

PARTNER 5

AVANTIUM has been developing an equipment platform to investigate electrocatalytic reactions. The combination of this platform with the already present high throughput technologies and extensive knowledge on catalysis is very powerful in the development of electrocatalytic processes. In addition, Avantium has recently acquired the assets from Liquid Light, a US based company that developed an advanced technology platform to reduce carbon dioxide. AVT will optimize and engineer the this TRL5 technology for use under industrial conditions, so move it to TRL6. Based on its expertise with Service offerings in catalysis for the chemical industry, as well as its experience in developing its own process to make biobased plastics (the YXY technology, now in a JV with BASF) AVT will integrate the various electrochemical steps into industrial operations towards high value C2 products. AVT will also lead the market and exploitation analysis, based on their experience with biomass conversion, to provide insight into the market and the activities needed for the exploitation of the results, resulting in a business case and exploitation strategy. AVT will be the scientific coordinator. AVT has been involved in the setting-up and management of large public-private research projects (PPS) including B-Basic, CatchBio and CCC (carbohydrate competence center), and has also been leading in setting-up and (scientific) management of several large EU projects (a.o. Biofur, Hugs).

PARTNER 6

ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA will play a fundamental role in the development and characterization of bipolar membrane based electrodialysis modules. The new multi-stage acidification system will be the ideal platform to use different, tailored catalysts at different stages to maximise yield for both the oxidation and reduction.IIT know-how will be especially used for the electrochemical characterization of the electrodes and catalysts. IIT also holds a variety of techniques for decorating the carbons with active metal species (wet impregnation, CVD, PVD, sputtering, etc.), characterize them (TEM with probes, FESEM, FIB, BET, etc.). IIT will also have a primary role in WP6 for the Life Cycle Analysis and process assessment and quantification of environmental impact.

PARTNER 7

RWE’s Coal Innovation Centre at Niederaussem as testing site of the OCEAN demonstrator is widely known in research and engineering for testing of new technologies under real industrial boundary conditions to achieve commercial status and to prepare large-scale implementation. Several thousand visitors per year from the public, press and politics as well as scientists from all over the world are visiting the site to inform oneself about innovations in the energy sector. RWE will provide data for the LCA based on the testing and maintenance of the OCEAN demonstrator under real industrial boundary conditions and the CO2 post-combustion capture technology. RWE will support the market analysis by providing data from the electricity market, CCUS and its experience on chemical products from coal gasification (Coal to Liquid). Using its experience on the economics of energy storage technologies RWE will challenge the use of excess power from fluctuating renewables as only energy source for the CCU application and source of earnings from load leveling to develop a robust business case for the OCEAN technology. As a proper management of IP enhances the chances of an effective exploitation of the research results, RWE will bring in its experience on IPR (in-house department on IPR at RWE) as a leading patent holder in the European energy sector. Regulatory hurdles and barriers for the market entrance for the exploitation will be identified.

PARTNER 8

University of Amsterdam. The group’s new laboratories are located at the Science Park Amsterdam. It has over 400 m2 of state-of-the-art labs for the synthesis, testing and characterization of catalysts and porous materials. The University has a world renowned track record in carbonylation/hydroformulation. The first of the two PhD students in this project will be based in the Reek group. All relevant catalytic carbonylation reactors at laboratory scale and all required analytical equipment (NMR, LC, GC, GCMS, etc.) is available. The 2nd PhD student will work on polymerization using oxalic acid and other C2 di-acids / di-alcohols produced with the OCEAN technology