The overarching goal of CCUS ZEN is the accelerated deployment of CCUS throughout Europe, which will be achieved by: • Sharing knowledge and disseminating information important for stakeholders to make informed decisions on CCUS • Developing specific and actionable plans for the development of CCUS value chains As CCUS developments around the North Sea (NS) region are relatively mature, CCUS ZEN will leverage these developments as best practice for the development of new CCUS value chains in the currently underdeveloped Baltic Sea (BS) and the Mediterranean Sea (MS) Regions. While CCUS value chains, i.e., the entire pathway from CO2 capture to transport to its eventual storage or utilization, can today be realized, the industry is still in its infancy and many issues must be addressed to achieve the rapid deployment required. The consortium, consisting of 15 partners, including 2 associations with over 400 members in total, brings together entities with leading expertise on all aspects of CCUS value chains. 30 organisations, representing industry, RTOs, Associations, clusters, ports and municipalities involved in the development and deployment of CCUS value chains, will contribute their expertise as networking partners. Starting from an analysis of the technical and non-technical state-of-play in the BS and MS regions, CCUS ZEN will select at least eight value chains (four in each region) for detailed study and comparison with successful value chains from the NS region. One value chain from each analysed region will then be selected as most promising, with a detailed plan for further development. Through its knowledge-sharing activities and transfer of best practices from the NS region, CCUS ZEN will provide an information basis for the future CCUS value chains, including policy recommendations and a blueprint for CCUS value chain development, including easily accessible technology and CO2 source mapping, generic technical frameworks and business plan models.

To achieve the 2050 climate goals, industries must transition to zero-emission and circular processes, crucial for the metallurgical industry facing challenges due to carbon dependence and difficult to abate emissions. Key to this transition is the integration of fluctuating renewable electricity sources, circular processes, and the production of versatile products like methanol. However, to overcome the challenges in e-methanol production, there is a need for technological breakthroughs for competitive renewable electricity and efficient CO2 utilisation. Energy-intensive sectors require low-cost, environmentally friendly CO2 capture systems. The integration of Power-to-Value systems presents a unique opportunity for a seamless transition to circular economies. EMPHATICAL targets residual CO/CO2 containing gases from highly electrified metallurgical industry, namely electrical and submerged arc furnace processes (EAF & SAF), through the energy efficient integration of innovative oxy-blown calcium-looping capture technology, purification, and conversion of CO2 to e-methanol with green H2 as a feedstock. Culminating in a first of a kind TRL7 demonstrator to establish economic viability and sustainability for achieving net zero in electrified metallurgical and methanol production. EMPHATICAL will demonstrate integrated concept at relevant scale for making decisions for the FOAK, taking overall conversion process from TRL5 to demonstration TRL7. The objective is to achieve a 25% reduction of the specific energy consumption and 25% decrease of the production costs. In this project, risks are mitigated from the start; each unit can be implemented as a stand-alone function within a modified state-of-the-art technology chain and thus provide immediate performance and energy efficiency improvements. The project evaluates EMPHATICAL concept integration in two industrial sites. The expected overall CO2 reduction for EMPHATICAL plants is projected to be 41 Mt/year by 2050.

INITIATE proposes a novel symbiotic process to produce urea from steel residual gases. The project will demonstrate a reduction in; primary energy intensity of 30%; carbon footprint of 95%; the raw material intensity of 40%; and waste production of 90%. Additional to this level of reduction, the concept represents a positive business case. INITIATE will demonstrate operating reliability and technology-based innovations in a real industrial setting at TRL7 by producing urea NH3 from steel residual gases as part of three test campaigns spanning six weeks each. The reduction in primary energy intensity, carbon footprint, raw material intensity and waste production will be assessed and verified on a regional and European level by advanced dynamic modelling and Life Cycle Assessment commiserated with ISO 14404 guidelines. The project will develop a commercial implementation roadmap for immediate deployment of INITIATE after project conclusion and for ensuring roll-out of INITIATE and similar symbiotic systems. Designing a robust and bankable first-of-a-kind commercial plant to produce urea from residual steel gases will allow implementation after project conclusion. Long term roll-out will be enabled by defining collaborative strategy for stakeholders alignment to implement INITIATE and similar symbiotic systems. Finally, effective and inclusive communication and dissemination of project results are maximized by organizing summer schools and creation of Massive Open Online Course. INITIATE will take advantage of a consortium spanning the full value chain, including major steel and urea industrial players (Arcelor Mittal, SSAB, Stamicarbon, NextChem), functional material suppliers (Johnson Matthey, Kisuma Chemicals), multi-disciplinary researchers (TNO, POLIMI, Radboud University) and experienced promoters of CCUS, circularity and symbiosis topics to public (CO2 Value Europe).

ICO2NIC will couple developments in polymer membrane-based CO2 capture technology with a novel Gas Diffusion electrochemical cell for CO2 to formic acid conversion. Valorisation of formic acid via innovative biological processing routes will deliver high value products and materials. By making CCU (carbon capture and utilization) profitable, the ICO2NIC approach will enable global emitters to capture and valorise waste CO2, paving the way for a significant reduction in global emissions. The ICO2NIC consortium will form a complete value chain, from CO2 emitter (TUPRAS), to end users (TUPRAS, P&G), inclusive of carbon capture and purification (CPT), electrochemical conversion (AVT), and downstream processing (B.Fab, NPI). This industrial representation will enable validation of an integrated business model that has the potential to deliver a viable economic model for all parties (without external financial aid). Leading RTOs will support the integration of RES through digital monitoring and control systems (IDE), and confirm the cost efficiency, environmental performance and scalability of the proposed concept through development of a robust TEA and process design (SINTEF) and LCA (TNO); paving the way for capture of 6.45 Mt of CO2 from TUPRAS’ refineries by 2040, and up to 75 Mtpa CO2 in the EU refinery sector in the long term.

Biorefinery industries are in a unique position to lead the way in turning CO2 emissions into added-value chemicals due to their intrinsic keenness towards innovation and their potential to transform their biogenic CO2 waste streams into bio-based chemicals that can be integrated within their own processes in a circular way. CO2SMOS aims to develop a platform of technologies to transform CO2 emissions produced by bio-based industries into a set a of high added-value chemicals with direct use as intermediates for bio-based products. The result is a toolbox combining intensified chemical conversions (electrocatalytic and membrane reactors) and innovative biotechnological solutions based on gas/liquid combined fermentation processes and organic/green-catalysts reaction processes, which allow versatile production, depending on the available resources and the targeted value chains, of seven different bio-based chemicals. These molecules will be validated as renewable CO2-based commodities for the formulation of high-performance biopolymers and renewable chemicals. The five breakthrough technologies involved in CO2SMOS will ensure low energy use (< 50 kWh/kg of CO2-based chemical), low production cost (< 1.75 €/kg), high product yield (up to 68% the ideal yield) and an outstanding GHG-abatement potential (avoiding of up to 10 additional kg of CO2 per each kg used as feedstock), which will contribute to the sustainability and cost competitiveness of the integrated conversion processes. Integration of CO2SMOS concept in existing and emerging biorefineries (supported by Scale Up and Replication plans) will contribute to expand the business portfolio and strengthen the economic base of the sector. A campaign to assess social acceptance of CO2SMOS solutions and to promote awareness of their environmental, social and economic benefits is also foreseen. The consortium counts on academic, RTO and industrial partners with two major actors in the biorefinery sector.