US Funds Six New CO2 Recycling Technologies

The US Department of Energy has unveiled details of a new development in an environmentally friendly research venture which aim to lower carbon dioxide emission levels. It involves developing technologies and processes capable of recycling CO2 that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.

Six firms have been selected by the DoE to carry out the CO2 recycling research, and the selection of them represents phase two of a process that began with 12 organisations.

Carbon Dioxide Recycling

With the provision of funding supplied by the DoE, the six companies will carry out carbon dioxide recycling research as detailed below:

• Alcoa: $12m in funding supplied for the development of CO2 scrubbers that collect gases and transform them into carbonate/bicarbonate products
• Skynonics: $25m in funding supplied to develop processes as per Alcoa
• Calera: close to $20m in funding supplied to trial a CO2 mineralisation technique intended for use within the construction industry
• Novomer: $18.4 million given for it to trial CO2-based plastic manufacturing processes
• Touchstone: Just over $6m provided for advanced CO2 capture and conversion technologies
• Phycal: $24m given for full development of new fuel production technologies that draw on algae and CO2

CO2 Recycling Technology

In all cases, the companies involved will design, manufacture and test CO2 recycling technology innovations within pilot trials, all the time assessing whether – if scaled-up and brought to the global marketplace – they could be both technically and economically viable.

“These innovative projects convert carbon pollution from a climate threat to an economic resource”, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu stated in a DoE press release issued on 22 July.

“This is part of our broad commitment to unleash the American innovation machine and build the thriving, clean energy economy of the future.”

According to the press release, the company selections reinforce that potential opportunities exist to draw on CO2 as a basic raw material with two goals in mind: mitigating the impact of CO2 emissions on the environment and creating useful products for US residents at the same time.