D-CRBN takes CO2 and turns it into CO. They wanted to know how much carbon is released for the molecules that they are creating. And how “carbon-negative” are the carbon molecules they are making, with respect to current other options on our market? Hedgehog Company conducted an LCA study to answer these questions. Pablo Espinar, Projects Director at D-CRBN shares how this process was for them and what insights the LCA gave them.
Can you tell us about the work of D-CRBN?
D-CRBN is an organisation that captures CO2, and we convert this, by using plasma technology, into CO. This CO, carbon monoxide, can then be used to form chemicals, polymers or e-fuels.
You need carbon and oxygen to build up practically any organic molecule. In our process, carbon monoxide is the carbon-carrier to bring that carbon back into the economy. It is a very circular approach, focussing on the redistribution of the raw-material carbon.
What was the reason you wanted to conduct an LCA study?
Since we are working with CO2 as our “ingredient”, we always knew that our technology clearly has a sustainable intrinsic component. And now it was necessary to quantify this sustainable component because we got questioned about our impact by one of our stakeholders.
And we realised that it was essential, especially in our field. We are working in the green transition, and we wanted to externally verify our claims. So that was the goal of this LCA; assess the environmental impact of the production of 1 ton of CO.
We wanted to know how much carbon is released for the molecules that we are creating. How “carbon-negative” are the carbon molecules we are making, with respect to current other options on our market?
Carbon negative refers to removing CO2 from the atmosphere, or sequestering more CO2 than is emitted. And since we are a company who uses CO2 as its main component for production by turning CO2 into CO, we wanted to know how we relate in this sense.
So the LCA was really a key piece in order to calculate our carbon footprint and to prove the validity and the sustainability of our chemical process.
How did you experience the process towards the LCA?
First, we faced the Hedgehog team with quite a challenge. In the sense that our technology is not easy, because it's a very novel field of physics and chemistry. It was really the first time that such a technology was being assessed from a sustainability perspective.
And with respect to the carbon footprint, we had to find a way in which we could benchmark our technology with all the other technologies in the field. But I experienced the team as very competent. So it was a very interesting collaboration actually and to me, this really proved the flexibility of Hedgehog Company.
Can you share some of the insights the LCA gave you?
The main point for us was to prove how sustainable our end product and process is, with respect to the current market. And we found out that our environmental impact was significantly lower than the standard production of one ton of CO produced by partial coal gasification or steam reforming of natural gas, which is one of the methods of producing industrial CO).
And what was especially interesting was that through this collaboration, we could really understand how we can account what is carbon negativity and what is not. So what parameters we have to consider in order to achieve a negative footprint, which at the end of the day is what we are pursuing.
The report showed us that if we use current standard inputs, being carbon captured from an industrial site (so-called point sourced carbon) and the normal electricity from our Belgian grid, we are not carbon negative. Because a very significant share of our impact originates in the needed electricity, and this electricity still has a fossil component. And the carbon is not being taken out from the atmosphere, it’s just avoiding this carbon to reach the atmosphere.
If we would work with carbon that has been taken right out of the atmosphere, this is called carbon from direct (air) capture or from biogenic sources, and we would purely use renewable electricity, then you can consider our process as carbon negative. Because we would be reducing the current carbon in the atmosphere.
This was a fascinating insight that changed the way we understood our process. It made us re-consider the source of our inputs and that impacted our business model, our partnership strategy and portfolio. We started focusing less on tackling industrial emissions, and we adjusted our focus more in reducing the carbon in the atmosphere. The LCA really changed our stakeholder engagement strategy; who would be our collaboration-partners.
Did the results of the LCA surprise you?
Since we are taking CO2 as our “main-ingredient”, we considered ourselves carbon-negative. Regardless of where our carbon inputs originate from, because we are avoiding carbon reaching the atmosphere. So how is that not to be considered carbon-negative? But it turned out not to be.
Pablo Espinar, Projects Director: "I think it is crucial for any tech startup, in any field, to have an LCA from a very early stage. Because the need will come up sooner or later. So I would recommend anyone; better do it sooner than later. And regardless of it if it’s being asked for, an LCA really gives you an extensive insight in your product/process."
How can D-CRBN use the insights the LCA provided?
We know now much better how we can sell our technology and how we to refer to the products that we are making. And that’s crucial. So based on the geographical sites and the different variables like the electricity mix or the carbon input, we can now confidently state to a customer if they are going to be carbon negative or not. This really assures security to our customers, because if you don’t understand your product properly, you’re never going to communicate it properly.
And we conducted the study in a way to make it modular: so we focused beyond the core of our technology, and we wanted an LCA that was also scalable. That by doing one LCA, we can actually perform the LCA for every single machine that we will ever produce.
Because our technology works in the way that we have a plasma reactor that breaks down the CO2 molecules. So by multiplying these reactors we achieve higher volumes of processing, and instead of one reactor we can simply multiply and print off any piece of equipment.
So this modular approach made the LCA very valuable, and we are able to keep our insights up to date with every next step.
