Electrification of the Chemical Industry
Electrification of energy carriers
Sustainable production of Formic Acid from CO2
Martijn de Graaff
Team Fast Formic Acid symposium 2017
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• Public-Private Shared Innovation
Program of ~4 M€ / year, initiated
in 2015 by TNO, ECN and
Topsector Chemistry.
• Accelerate innovation and
implementation of industrial
electrification & decarbonization.
• Addresses both the indirect and
direct use of electricity within the
industry, involving chemical,
energy & equipment companies.
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Share of 3167 PJ = 880 TWh final use
5%1%
Chemistry
10%
27%
44% compare: 25% EU
Energy use NL in GW continuous
Refineries
37
Industry other
10%
Oil and gas
Transport
5%
14%
57%
1200 PJ
325 TWh
103
Housholds
Electricity production
Electricity
Waste and water
3,4
9%
43%
107
PJ
505 PJ
140 TWh 30 TWh
Energetic
Agriculture
Feedstock
Services
Total
Industry
16%
2%
16
Energy
use NL
10%
21
Challenge: To convert from fossil to renewable energy and feedstock in industry.
Source: Nationale Energieverkenning, 2014
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+ Sustainability -
- Variability in supply +
Biomass
Wind
Hydroelectric
Solar Tidal
Fossil coal
Fossil oil
Fossil gas
Nuclear
Geothermal
Future
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Example from Germany
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
-140
-160
-180
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
-200
# quarters of an hour 
E-price unbalance in quarters of an hour per €/MWh in 2015
E-price  [€/MWh]
Price duration curve 2030
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Electrification of the Chemical Industry
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Indirect conversion
Direct conversion
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Demo plant, CRI, Reykjanes (Iceland)
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Demo plant, Sunfire, Dresden (Germany)
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Pilot plant [2017], Siemens, Oxford (UK)
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Source: DNV-GL, 2011
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Electrification of the Chemical Industry
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Characteristics:
– Colorless liquid, miscible with water.
– Having a pungent penetrating odor.
– Occuring in nature in several ants.
Uses:
–
–
–
–
–
Preservative in livestock feed (30%).
Leather production (23%)
Dying & textile finishing (9%).
Rubber production (6%).
Future: Use as energy carrier in fuel cells.
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• Commercial production: ~ €600/t for 85 w/w %.
• Total production: ~700 kT/a in 2013. ~3% growth per year.
• Largest producers: BASF (Germany), Eastman (Finland), LC
Industrial (Thailand), and Feicheng Acid Chemicals (China).
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Syngas/CO from gasification
using fossil feedstock
Water removal with destillation
using (fossil) heat
Ammonia from SMR
using fossil feedstock
World's greatest producer of
formic acid: BASF (255 kT/a)
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 Current production uses huge amounts of fossil energy and the market is saturated!
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Electrification of the Chemical Industry
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HCOOH
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Indirect conversion: CO2 hydrogenation (TRL-5)
O2
Hydrogen
Electrolyzer
H2
H2
Direct conversion: CO2 electrolysis (TRL-3)
O2
H2
H2O
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




Assumptions:
Thermocatalytic conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide
to formic acid, 85%wt
11 kiloton plant, 20 year depreciation
8000+ operational hours in base case
Revenues from formic acid sales (2017: 650 €/t)
CAPEX and operational parameters based on a report of the
European Commission's Joint Research Centre




Opportunities :
Technology: Bringing thermocatalytic conversion into
industrial pilot/demo phase.
Technology: Increasing direct electrochemical conversion TRL
resulting in higher selectivity and lower downstream cost.
Market: potential for fuel blending may allow large scale
production.
Market: potential for efficient hydrogen storage.
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Only Formic Acid from renewable power and biogenic CO2 is more sustainable than Diesel!
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Mantra Energy (CAN)
DNV-GL (US)
Coval Energy (NL)
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Development of an electrochemical system for
conversion of CO2 to Formic Acid from lab to industrially
relevant scale (TRL-3 -> TRL-6).
Business cases to be further evaluated:
- Specialty & decentralized production (e.g. biogas installation).
- Large scale central production as base chemical.
- Energy carrier for the transport sector.
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Main activities:
•
•
•
•
•
Development and testing of bench-reactor.
Effect of intermittency and CO2 composition.
Integration CO2 from manure / biogas plant.
Techno-economics, business potential & sustainability.
Opportunities for energy and CO2 system integration.
Electrochemistry
System Design
Economics & Sustainability
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> 2030
2022-2030
2018-2022
2017-2020
Decentralized
niche
applications
(50-100 kg/h)
Small
centralized
applications
(500 kg/h)
Large scale
applications
R&D towards
industrially
relevant scale
(1-10 kg/h)
Topics to be continuously assessed
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• Industrial electrification and specifically Power-2-Fuels is
important for fossil decarbonization.
• There are many activities worldwide working on
development of different emerging electro-fuels.
• Formic Acid is easily produced using electricity and might
have a business case on short term in niches. Introduction
as energy carrier will boost the market.
• Worldwide RD&I is quickly accellerating, first small scale
market applications expected between 2020 and 2030.
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Martijn de Graaff
Business development
[email protected]
Robert de Kler
Community Manager
[email protected]
Yvonne van Delft
Innovation Manager
[email protected]
www.voltachem.com
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