Superbases have the potential to collect carbon dioxide inexpensively and efficiently, even from sources of low concentration. Harmful emissions could ultimately be used to manufacture, for example, plastics or e-fuels. The goal of the superbases project is to determine whether superbases can offer various industries new means of capturing and recycling carbon dioxide emissions. The project investigates how superbases fare in this process and the products that could be manufactured for the market.
Increasingly effective techniques for emissions control
Carbon dioxide emissions that accelerate climate change are a wicked problem for the industry. As they cannot be completely avoided, tools to capture and recycle carbon dioxide are needed. Chemically produced superbases may offer a solution. Their potential is being surveyed by the ‘Direct and reversible CO2 capture from air using superbases’ project coordinated by Professor Timo Repo, for which the University of Helsinki has received more than €420,000 in Co-Research funding from Business Finland. Alongside Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, involved in the project are a significant number of business partners such as Borealis, interested in reducing their own carbon footprint, as well as manufacturing new products from carbon dioxide.
“Carbon dioxide is often thought of solely in terms of harm, but it is also a raw material, for example for e-fuels,” Repo notes.
Current methods of emission capture are not good enough: for example, amino alcohols can be used to collect carbon dioxide primarily from sources such as coal power plant smokestacks, after which the extraction of CO2 for further use requires a lot of energy. Superbases could be used to capture emissions directly from the air and other low-concentration sources. This way, carbon dioxide would also be extracted at a climate-friendly 60 degrees centigrade. However, the suitability of the technique for controlling industrial emissions must be investigated further.
“The goal is to validate the idea,” Repo says.
The initial results demonstrate that superbases are able to bind and release carbon dioxide, in line with the premise. –Timo Repo, Professor of Chemistry, University of Helsinki
Research drives the green transition of the plastics industry
Launched in spring 2023, the project is linked to the plastics manufacturer Borealis’ SPIRIT programme under the Business Finland Veturi scheme, which supports the sustainability transition in the field. Borealis in Finland is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2045, a goal unattainable with current emission capture techniques – they are too expensive and inefficient.
“One of our primary goals is to bring down the price of carbon capture,” says the company’s Asset Transformation Manager Mikko Rönkä.
At Borealis, carbon dioxide emissions are generated especially at the stage of plastic production where hydrocarbons are heated in cracker furnaces with fuel gases. In fact, the company aims to obtain information on the combination of superbases and chemical solutions that could enable the capture of precisely such emissions. It is also interested in how little energy suffices for superbases to capture carbon dioxide.
“If we achieve a breakthrough, it will open up quite a lot of opportunities,” Rönkä says.
If, for example, emissions from burning non-recyclable plastics were recovered, they could be used to manufacture new plastic products. This would be another step towards a circular economy.
“Plastics in long-life applications can bind the carbon for several decades,” Rönkä notes.
Current means of carbon capture are quite expensive, and their efficacy is reduced at lower concentrations. We wish to find new and alternative techniques. – Mikko Rönkä, Asset Transformation Manager, Borealis Polymers Oy
A busy business values easy collaboration
The collaboration attracts Borealis because of the scientific expertise in superbases found in Repo’s group. The University’s capacity for project coordination is also important. An international business would not have time for similar efforts, nor the necessary research competencies in the specific field of carbon capture. This is why the University is an irreplaceable partner.
“All we need is to participate in the steering group activities and keep ourselves up to date with the research findings,” Rönkä sums up.
The project will continue until spring 2025. Repo and his team are responsible for the chemistry work package: they measure how much carbon dioxide can be collected and released with promising amidine- and guanidine-based superbases. The results so far confirm that the substances function as expected.
“That side is thoroughly studied and understood,” Repo says.
Other partners are investigating how to introduce the technique into their day-to-day operations. VTT is looking for ways to turn superbases into solids, while Aalto University is investigating the scalability of the process. Globally, there is a great deal of interest in superbases. If everything goes to plan, the ongoing project could contribute to revolutionising emissions control. What motivated Repo to explore the topic was pure scientific passion. “This is one of the most enjoyable chemical phenomena I’ve studied in my career, ” he concludes.
More information:
Original news piece by University of Helsinki: Professor Timo Repo and his partners investigate the revolutionary potential of superbases in carbon capture (8/2024)