UP Catalyst secures EUR 1.59 million with consortium partners to turn CO2 from heavy industry emitters into graphite for the European battery industry

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A EIT RawMaterials-supported project consortium specialising in energy storage development has launched a two-year pilot program to design and build a scalable shipping container synthesis reactor that is capable of transforming CO2 emissions into graphite, a mineral now classified by the EU as a critical raw material, and various carbon nanomaterials. The innovative project called CO2Carbon is led by Estonian technology start-up UP Catalyst.

Project goal

The outcome of this proposal would be an automated pilot shipping container that absorbs 10 tons of CO2and produces 2 700 kg of sustainable carbon materials per year, with a potential revenue of 2.7 million EUR per year. A pilot project such as this will accelerate the progress towards even larger scale CO2 splitting operations by creating knowledge and understanding of the processes taking place when splitting CO2electrochemically at such a large scale.

Project partners

The consortium was called upon by UP Catalyst in January 2021, which is also serving as the technology owner and project leader. Additionally, the project was joined by Riga Technical University (RTU) carrying out the industrial design of the synthesis reactor; Research Institute of Sweden (RISE) performing the industrial pilot construction, certification and life-cycle assessment analysis; University of Bologna (UNIBO) characterising and testing the produced sustainable carbon materials for the use in electrodes for Li-ion batteries; Univercell Holding GmbH producing electrodes and cells based on Li-ion technology and Bettery Srl whose mission is developing and bringing next-generation sustainable semi-solid state batteries to the market.

Project contact

Einar Karu, PhD

einar@upcatalyst.com