Braskem and the University of Sao Paulo (USP) announce a partnership to develop lines of research for the conversion of CO 2 into other chemical products. CO2 is one of the components of greenhouse gases and is a major contributor to climate change. The idea of ??the project is that the technologies resulting from these lines of research are able to reuse CO2 to obtain chemical products, such as olefins and alcohols, thus mitigating their emissions into the environment and serving as raw materials for the production of polyolefins.
The partnership with USP, through the RCGI - Research Center for Innovation in Greenhouse Gases, also includes the participation of the Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), and is focused on studying innovative ways of converting CO2 , whether they are catalytic or electrocatalytic. While in conventional chemical industry processes, catalysts (materials that promote chemical reactions) are thermally activated, in electrocatalysis, electrical energy is used to activate them. In this way, one can partially or totally use renewable energy for the CO2 conversion process.
The project, started a year ago, considers a total period of five years for developments on a laboratory scale, with the possibility of extension according to the progress of the research.
Braskem will contribute with the investments and with its mastery and expertise in industrial processes, monitoring and directing the studies. Research groups from USP and UFSCar will coordinate and develop the studies using the advanced infrastructure of the laboratories, as well as teams of multidisciplinary professionals, which include chemists, physicists and engineers, among others, with various academic degrees.
For Braskem, this partnership also aims to contribute to the achievement of its goals linked to sustainable development, especially with regard to achieving carbon neutrality. The company plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
"Over the last few years, Braskem has signed several partnerships to study the possibilities and alternatives for using the CO 2 generated in the company's operations. Through this new project, the company expands its activities with the academic area and collaborates with the promotion of new national research linked to major teaching institutions in Brazil", says Gus Hutras, responsible for the global area of ??Process Technology at Braskem. "We hope that the initiative will bring benefits to the industry in terms of CO 2 conversion and that we can learn and contribute, uniting expertise in scaling up sustainable solutions for Brazil and the world", he reiterates.
Once developed, the technologies for converting CO2 through catalysis and electrocatalysis will be unprecedented, innovative and disruptive in a market that is increasingly demanding projects that help fight climate change.
For Rita Maria de Brito Alves, professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic School of USP and researcher at RCGI-USP, "partnerships between universities and the private sector are fundamental for the development of applied research, which contributes to the creation of innovative products and processes, training qualified professionals and increasing competitiveness. The common objective is the generation of knowledge and technologies for the sustainable development of society in general".
