The project ‘Carbon Capture & Utilization (CCUV4) - Green Deal strategies for V4 countries: The needs and challenges to reach low-carbon industry’ has brought together researchers from universities of technology in Prague, Łódź, Bratislava, and Miskolc. The project has been coordinated by Professor Lukas Kratky from the Czech Technical University in Prague, and Professor Stanisław Ledakowicz from Lodz Technical University, Faculty of Process Engineering and Environmental Protection.
The fourth meeting of the project partners was held at Lodz University of Technology. Professor Stanisław Ledakowicz pointed out,
‘The consortium integrates research and development work related to CO2 processing trends, carried out by the Visegrad countries. Our goal is to develop 3G biorefinery approaches suited to the conditions prevailing in the Visegrad countries, and subsequent technical and economic evaluations and life cycle assessments (LCAs). We are primarily focused on researching processes and designing facilities for the separation of carbon dioxide from flue gases and its chemical and biological conversion to specific target products’.
Carbon capture and utilization technologies are an important part of the journey toward carbon neutrality by 2050. Various experts have been pointing out that chemical, as well as biological technologies, can be used to convert carbon dioxide into different biofuels or chemicals that have the potential as petrochemicals.
‘'To be economically compelling and environmentally friendly, the CO2 conversion technology must be designed according to the biorefinery concept', emphasizes Professor Ledakowicz. 'A third-generation (3G) biorefinery uses CO2 as a carbon source, where it is captured and purified in the technological process and then converted into intermediate or final products. These include biodiesel, bioethanol, methane, methanol, formic acid, lipids, carotenoids, pigments, food, and value-added products’.
According to the persons involved in this project, the cooperation has been mainly concentrated on the use of CO2 in 3G biorefineries, which involves the identification of CO2 emitters in the V4 countries and, consequently, the identification of the potential for CO2 utilization in a decentralized manner. The consortium has given priority to the research and challenges around CO2-based biorefineries for the V4 countries, as well as to the design of processes, facilities, and technologies for converting CO2 into specific products.
To learn more, please visit the project website at https://ccuv4.fs.cvut.cz/