Innovative technology - environmentally sustainable syngas production

- New procestechnologfor industrial-scale reaction of carbon dioxidwith hydrogen reduceCOemissions 

- FederaMinistry of Education and Research grants a total of €9.2million to support intersectoral cooperation between industrand academia for threyears 

BASF, the Linde Group and ThyssenKrupp plan to develop an environmentally friendly and competitive basis for utilizing the climate gas carbon dioxide(CO2) on an industrial scale.Theaim to employ innovativprocess technology to use carbodioxidas a ramaterial, with positiveffects on climatprotection.Together with BASF’s subsidiary the AG and scientific partners VDEh-Betriebfoschungsinstitut, Düsseldorf, and TU Dortmund University, thcompanies ardeveloping a two-stagprocess. In the first step, an innovative high-temperature technology will process naturagas to obtain hydrogeancarbon. Compareto other processes,  this technology produces very little CO2. The hydrogen is thereactewith largvolumeof CO2also froother industriaprocesses, tgivsyngas. A mixturocarbomonoxide anhydrogen, syngas is a key raw material for the chemicaindustry and is also suitable for producing fuels. The German Federal Ministry of  Education and Research (BMBF) is subsidizing the project within its Technologies for Sustainability and Climate Protection–ChemicaProcesseand Use of CO2” scheme. The project starteoJuly 12013and is expecteto last threyears.

“Tog
ether with our project partners, we aim to develop a technology that will opeup innovativwayoproducing the basic key chemicals hydrogen and syngas on an industrial scale fronatural gas, arsources thawill bavailable for the long termIhydrogen productioalonewexpect COemissions to babou5percent lower than in current standarprocesses. At the same time, this process producehydrogeaparticularly competitive costs,” said DrPeteSchuhmacherPresident, BASF SProcess Research & ChemicaEngineering

Unlocking the ramaterial potential of carbon dioxide

The project’s approachas several advantages:

  • Natural gas is a plentiful resource with a more favorable content of hydrogen and carbon than biomass, for example. 
  • Natural gas decomposition is achieved thermally only, without any addition of oxygen or water. 
  • This enables the production of hydrogen and solid carbon; the latter may potentially be used to replace hard coal in the coke and steel industries. 
  • In an additional innovative catalytic process step, carbon dioxide is combined with the hydrogen obtained from natural gas decomposition to produce syngas. 
  • With the process operating at very high temperatures, the innovative reactor design ensures that the correspondingly large amounts of waste heat are recycled immediately into the process. 
  • The technology is suitable for industrial production.

Multi-disciplinarcooperation as a succesfactor 

BASF coordinates the joint project and, in cooperatiowith hte, carries out the experimental research activities  on gas decompositioanthe catalyst developmenfor thproductioof syngas. Based othis the partners intend to develop a piloplant desigand a concept for integrating the innovative technology into existing chemicaand steel-producing sites. Thengineering responsibility lies with Linde and ThyssenKrupp Uhde. ThyssenKrupSteel Europand its subsidiary Kokereibetriebsgesellschaft Schwelgern(KBS) will perform the carboconditioning and testing for steel industruse. 

We are sure that the interdisciplinary cooperation of the engineering, chemical, gaand steel industriewill be the key to the success othis project,” stated project coordinator Dr-IngAndreas Bode, BASF New Business GmbH, in unison with the representatives othe companieparticipating in thproject. 

AboutBASF 

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales of €72.1billion in 2012 and had more than 110,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at ww.basf.com.

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