CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY
TotalEnergies and Air Liquide | November 23, 2022
TotalEnergie and Air Liquide are innovating to produce and valorize renewable, low carbon hydrogen at the Grandpuits zero crude platform. Under a long-term contract committing TotalEnergies to purchase the hydrogen produced for the needs of its platform, Air Liquide will invest over €130 million in the construction and operation of a new unit producing hydrogen. This unit will partly use biogas from the biorefinery built by TotalEnergies and will be delivered with Air Liquide’s carbon capture technology CryocapTM. These innovations will prevent emissions amounting to 150,000 tons of CO2 a year compared to current processes. TotalEnergies’ biorefinery will use the unit’s hydrogen to produce sustainable aviation fuel.
In line with the two companies’ shared ambition to get to net zero by 2050, the project includes sustainable and circular innovations
The new hydrogen production unit, with the capacity to produce over 20,000 tons a year will produce hydrogen that is partly renewable, thanks to the recycling of residual biogas from the Grandpuits biorefinery, in place of the natural gas that is normally used.
This unit will be delivered with a carbon capture technology, allowing it to help reduce the platform’s carbon footprint, by capturing over 110,000 tons of CO2 a year for reuse in food and industrial applications.
Most of the unit’s renewable, low carbon hydrogen will be used by the biorefinery itself, to produce sustainable aviation fuel, but it could also be used to support sustainable mobility in the Ile-de-France region.
"By recycling the biogas produced by the biorefinery into renewable hydrogen, this innovative project makes full use of the conversion of the Grandpuits refinery into a zero crude platform harnessing the potential of biomass, especially in the production of sustainable aviation fuel,” said Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals, TotalEnergies. "Combined with the production of low carbon hydrogen and the capture of CO2, this project contributes to TotalEnergies’ ambition to decarbonize all of the hydrogen used by its European refineries by 2030."
"This innovative project is characterized by the combination of several solutions in order to produce renewable and low-carbon hydrogen,and contribute to the decarbonization of TotalEnergies’ Grandpuits site. It also provides the opportunity to recycle CO2 as part of a circular economy approach while securing its supply for agri-food applications. This project illustrates Air Liquide’s expertise in working with its customers on customized solutions to help them reduce their carbon footprint and actively participate in the fight against global warming. It provides yet another example of the key role that hydrogen will play to succeed in the energy transition"," added Pascal Vinet, Senior Vice President and member of the Executive Committee, Air Liquide, in charge of Europe Industries activities.
About TotalEnergies in Grandpuits
Commissioned in 1966, Total's Grandpuits-Bailly-Carrois refinery was for a long time the only refinery in the Paris region. In September 2020, TotalEnergies launched a project to convert the site, in line with its strategy to become carbon neutral by 2050. This zero-crude project, with a total investment of more than 500 million euros, is based on the development of several future-oriented activities in the field of biomass, renewable energies, and the circular economy: chemical recycling of plastic waste, production of biosourced and biodegradable bioplastics, production of biofuels for the aviation sector, construction of a solar farm and electricity storage by batteries. The start-up of these new units will begin in 2022, and they should all be operational by 2025.
TotalEnergies and renewable & low-carbon hydrogen
TotalEnergies is convinced that renewable and low-carbon hydrogen will play a major role in the energy transition. The Company is working with its suppliers and partners to decarbonize all the hydrogen used in its European refineries by 2030. This represents a reduction in CO2 emissions of 3 million tons per year. Further out, TotalEnergies aims to pioneer the mass production of renewable and low carbon hydrogen to meet demand for hydrogen fuel as soon as the market takes off, notably to help decarbonize heavy transport. The renewable hydrogen production capacity currently under development in Europe and India will contribute to TotalEnergies' ambition for new molecules - biofuels, biogas, hydrogen, and e-fuels- to reach 25% of its energy production and sales mix by 2050.
TotalEnergies and Sustainable Aviation Fuels
TotalEnergies is developing Sustainable Aviation Fuels. These are biofuels produced from waste and residues from the circular economy and "e-jets", synthetic fuels for aviation. These sustainable aviation fuels will significantly reduce CO2 emissions from air transport
About TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.
About Air Liquide
A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the company’s activities since its creation in 1902.
Read More
CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
LanzaTech Inc. | October 07, 2022
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced $178 million for bioenergy research to advance sustainable technology breakthroughs that can improve public health, address climate change, improve food and agricultural production, and create more resilient supply chains.
A team from Northwestern University, LanzaTech NZ, Inc. Yale University, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory received $18.5 Million in funding from this grant for integrating cell‐free systems and genome engineering to accelerate biosystems design for carbon‐negative biomanufacturing. With the DOE grant by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Genomic Sciences Program (GSP), the research team will work to,
Interweave in vivo and in vitro approaches, developing new Synthetic Biology tools and Artificial Intelligence (AI) models,
Establish a predictive, system-level understanding of CO2-utilizing biosystems to accelerate sustainable biomanufacturing, and
Engineer industrially relevant CO2-utilizing biosystems that produce advanced and performance-advantaged fuels and chemical precursors.
The work will look to understand the fundamental rules that drive microbial systems and how they can make new products through biological design. This is expected to help support new approaches to biomanufacturing by developing performance-advantaged alternatives to materials, fuels, and solvents today exclusively made from virgin fossil inputs.
LanzaTech has already demonstrated more than 100 products through its Synthetic Biology platform. CEO Dr. Jennifer Holmgren recently spoke at the White House Summit on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing, where she shared her vision for a post-pollution future. "By 2040," Dr. Holmgren said, "we hope that every U.S. consumer, regardless of where they are from or how much they earn, will have direct access to a sustainable version of every product they purchase."
"Innovation alone will not be enough to accelerate the work we are doing in creating a circular economy. However, through collaboration and the support of the Department of Energy, we will be able to scale our work and have several platforms to support the growing carbon-negative biomanufacturing industry."
Holmgren
Northwestern University and LanzaTech have a long history of collaboration. This work builds upon a Biosystems Design award Northwestern University and LanzaTech received that demonstrated ground-breaking work on how in vitro prototyping of biochemical pathways can accelerate design of biological cell-factories and carbon-negative biomanufacturing of essential platform chemicals acetone and isopropanol. Professor Michael Jewett, Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University and Director for Northwestern University's Center of Synthetic Biology, will lead the project.
"We need to advance and apply our capacity to partner with biology to make what is needed, where and when it is needed, on a sustainable and renewable basis," Jewett said. "This project will allow us to grow US-based manufacturing through fundamental research insights."
The DOE funding supports cutting-edge biotechnology R&D, like that with LanzaTech and the interdisciplinary team assembled. According to the DOE, "Alternative clean energy sources like bioenergy are playing a key role in reaching President Biden's goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050." U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a recent news release announcing the funding, "These projects will continue to advance the boundaries of biotechnology and support the emergence of a thriving U.S. bioeconomy that creates good-paying jobs and helps us meet our climate goals."
“We are reimagining a world that frees ourselves from relying on fossil resources," Holmgren said. "The work we are doing with Northwestern University, Yale, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is preparing ourselves for a post-pollution future and a more circular economy."
About LanzaTech
LanzaTech harnesses the power of biology and big data to create climate-safe materials and fuels. With expertise in Synthetic Biology, bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning coupled with engineering, LanzaTech has created a platform that converts waste carbon into new everyday products that would otherwise come from virgin fossil resources. LanzaTech’s first two commercial scale gas fermentation plants have produced over 50 million gallons of ethanol, which is the equivalent of offsetting the release of 190,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Additional plants are under construction globally. LanzaTech is based in Illinois, USA.
Read More
CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
ExxonMobil | October 13, 2022
CF Industries, a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, has entered into the largest-of-its-kind commercial agreement with ExxonMobil to capture and permanently store up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually from its manufacturing complex in Louisiana. Start-up for the project is scheduled for early 2025 and supports Louisiana’s objective of net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
As previously announced, CF Industries is investing $200 million to build a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at its Donaldsonville, Louisiana, facility to enable captured CO2 to be transported and stored. ExxonMobil will then transport and permanently store the captured CO2 in secure geologic storage it owns in Vermilion Parish. As part of the project, ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with EnLink Midstream to use EnLink’s transportation network to deliver CO2 to permanent geologic storage. The 2 million metric tons of emissions captured annually will be equivalent to replacing approximately 700,000 gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles.
“CF Industries is pleased to partner with ExxonMobil through this definitive CO2 offtake agreement, accelerating our decarbonization journey and supporting Louisiana’s and the country’s climate goals. This agreement also ensures that we remain at the forefront of the developing clean energy economy. As we leverage proven carbon capture and sequestration technology, CF Industries will be first-to-market with a significant volume of blue ammonia. This will enable us to supply this low-carbon energy source to hard-to-abate industries that increasingly view it as critical to their own decarbonization goals.”
Tony Will, president and chief executive officer, CF Industries Holdings, Inc
“This landmark project represents large-scale, real-world progress on the journey to decarbonize the global economy,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “ExxonMobil is providing a critical and scalable solution to reduce CO2 emissions, and we’re ready to offer the same service to other large industrial customers in the state of Louisiana and around the world. We’re encouraged by the momentum we see building for projects of this kind, thanks to supportive policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“EnLink has a system of over 4,000 miles of pipeline already in the ground in Louisiana,” said Jesse Arenivas, Chief Executive Officer of EnLink. “Utilizing this extensive network enables us to provide the most timely and cost-effective solution to CO2 transportation, with a significantly lower environmental impact. Because of this, EnLink is uniquely positioned to be the CO2 transportation provider of choice in Louisiana's Mississippi River corridor, which is a hub of industrial activity that is important to our economy. We look forward to working with ExxonMobil to help CF Industries and the State of Louisiana reach their decarbonization goals.”
“Today’s announcement of this unprecedented, large-scale, low-carbon partnership is a key milepost on Louisiana’s path toward a brighter future for our climate, our economy and our people,” said Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. “The collaboration and innovation to bring carbon capture and storage technology forward at this scale reaffirms our state’s ability to grow our economy without sacrificing our long-term emission-reduction goals to net zero by 2050.”
CF Industries expects to market up to 1.7 million metric tons of blue ammonia annually. A chemical process is considered “blue” when CO2 emissions are captured before their release into the air, making the process more carbon-neutral. Demand for blue ammonia is expected to grow significantly as a decarbonized energy source for hard-to-abate industries, both for its hydrogen content and as a fuel itself, because ammonia’s components – nitrogen and hydrogen – do not emit carbon when combusted.
ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions is working to bring lower-emission technologies to market, making them accessible to hard-to-decarbonize industries in the United States and internationally. It is focusing its carbon capture and storage efforts on point-source emissions, the process of capturing CO2 from industrial activity that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Once captured, the CO2 is injected into deep, underground geologic formations for safe, secure and permanent storage. In the United States, these storage efforts are regulated by state and federal agencies.
Carbon capture and storage is a safe, proven technology that can enable some of the highest-emitting sectors to meaningfully reduce their emissions. These industries include manufacturing, power generation, refining, petrochemical, steel, and cement operations. With effective government policies in place, broad deployment of commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects could create a new industry, resulting in job creation and economic growth.
About CF Industries
At CF Industries, our mission is to provide clean energy to feed and fuel the world sustainably. With our employees focused on safe and reliable operations, environmental stewardship, and disciplined capital and corporate management, we are on a path to decarbonize our ammonia production network – the world’s largest – to enable green and blue hydrogen and nitrogen products for energy, fertilizer, emissions abatement and other industrial activities. Our manufacturing complexes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, an unparalleled storage, transportation and distribution network in North America, and logistics capabilities enabling a global reach underpin our strategy to leverage our unique capabilities to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy. CF Industries routinely posts investor announcements and additional information on the Company’s website at www.cfindustries.com and encourages those interested in the Company to check there frequently.
About EnLink Midstream
EnLink Midstream reliably operates a differentiated midstream platform that is built for long-term, sustainable value creation. EnLink's best-in-class services span the midstream value chain, providing natural gas, crude oil, condensate, NGL capabilities, and carbon capture, transportation, and sequestration. Our purposely built, integrated asset platforms are in premier production basins and core demand centers, including the Permian Basin, Oklahoma, North Texas, and the Gulf Coast. EnLink's strong financial foundation and commitment to execution excellence drive competitive returns and value for our employees, customers, and investors. Headquartered in Dallas, EnLink is publicly traded through EnLink Midstream, LLC.
About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, one of the largest publicly traded international energy and petrochemical companies, creates solutions that improve quality of life and meet society’s evolving needs.
Read More