Rapid pyrolysis enabling decarbonisation to net zero
Dr Neil Hindle , chief technical officer of Nova Pangaea Technologies , shares insights into rapid pyrolysis for a net zero world
Emissions of CO2 in 2021 are predicted at the time of writing to have returned to 2019 levels . This is despite the ongoing COVID pandemic and multitude of pledges to net zero by 2050 made around the time of the COP26 meeting in November 2021 . In October 2021 , 290 members of the International Aviation Transport Association , including the major airlines , made a pledge to achieve net zero emission by 2050 . Other ambitious pledges have been made by several speciality and consumer companies , including Unilever ’ s pledge to be net zero on its own operations by 2030 and Scope 3 by 2039 . Although there are many opportunities to reduce carbon emissions towards net zero , there are relatively few methods of having net negative emissions . One area of focus is the direct capture of CO 2 from the atmosphere followed by underground storage . A recent € 13 million unit in Iceland demonstrates the concept , being able to capture 4,000 tonnes of CO 2
/ year equivalent to 870 cars . To make a significant impact , however , this technology will need substantial scale-up . Another potential carbon capture methodology is the use of biochar from pyrolysis units in an application where the carbon remains captured . Each tonne of permanent carbon present in the biochar is equivalent to 3.6 tonnes of CO 2 that has been absorbed from the atmosphere . Emissions to produce , transport and use the biochar are needed to be considered in the net calculation .
52 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE