Petrochemical company Braskem is partnering with the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil to research carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion technologies. The Brazil-based company plans to deploy the resulting technologies to reuse CO2 in obtaining chemical products such as olefins and alcohols to use as feedstock to produce polyolefins.
The partnership with USP, through the Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation (RCGI), focusses on studying innovative routes for CO2 conversion through both catalytic and electrocatalytic processes. While catalyst processes are thermally activated, electrocatalysis is powered by electricity, opening doors to partly or fully using renewable energy for CO2 conversion.
Brazil’s electricity matrix is one of the greenest in the world, with 82,9% of renewable energy as of 2022, compared to 28,9% at a global scale, according to the country’s Energy Research Office (EPE, from the Portuguese). On top of that, Brazil’s top renewable sources, hydro and solar, are also the cheapest electricity sources. That’s all good news for the Brazilian collaboration, because an International Energy Agency (IEA) 2019 analysis shows that the production of CO2-based chemicals is energy-intensive and requires large amounts of hydrogen, usually making the process economically unviable unless powered by very cheap renewable electricity. “Even under these conditions, the direct use of low-carbon hydrogen and electricity as a fuel will be a more cost-effective option in most cases,” the study cautioned.
The prospects may be brighter for direct conversion of CO2 into polymers, due to the relatively low energy required for their production and their high market value, according to the IEA. The analysis indicates that certain polymers can be made at 15% to 30% lower cost than their fossil counterparts, provided the CO2 used is cheaper than the fossil fuels-based raw material it replaces.
Braskem said the project started last year and will last for at least another four, with the aim of developing the CO2 conversion technologies at lab scale. The company will contribute with investments and its expertise in industrial processes and will also monitor and guide the studies. The multidisciplinary research groups from USP and the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) will coordinate and conduct the studies using state-of-the-art infrastructure.
The Brazilian petrochemical giant hopes the partnership will help it achieve its sustainability targets, particularly its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030 and attain carbon neutrality by 2050.
However, quantifying climate benefits of CO2 conversion can be challenging, with the IEA arguing that improved life-cycle assessments are needed to inform future policy and investment decisions. The agency pointed out that CO2 use applications can deliver climate benefits where the application is scalable, uses low-carbon energy, and displaces a product with higher life-cycle emissions.
Potential climate benefits in polymer production depend on the amount of CO2 that can be absorbed in the material, which can be up to 50% of the polymer’s mass, the agency explained in its analysis. A polymer containing 20% CO2 by weight shows life cycle CO2 emissions reductions of 15% relative to the conventional production process, for example.