VTT launches two-year project with partners to develop BECCU

In Finland, VTT and its business partners have launched a two-year project to develop a concept for a process to capture and utilize carbon dioxide. The aim is to utilize the carbon dioxide produced during bioenergy production as a raw material for specialty chemicals. As certain end products have a long lifecycle, the concept may even lead to negative emissions, that is, products that act as carbon sinks.

For the BECCU project, VTT and its business partners have selected chemicals, and in particular polyols, as the primary end products. Polyols are in turn the raw materials for polyurethane products, such as insulation materials and foam adhesives.

The goal is to determine whether polyols can be profitably manufactured from bio-based carbon dioxide and hydrogen in the current market situation. The project is developing a concept for the entire processing chain, from the use of biomass in energy production all the way to the capturing of carbon dioxide and chemical manufacture. The aim is to prepare this concept to the next point where industrial-scale investments can be targeted.