Cooperation Agreement Twence and Coval Energy
Research development – fuels from CO2
Technology developer Coval Energy and Twence, a producer of raw materials, signed a letter of intent for a research cooperation. The main goal is to develop a pilot plant for the production of formic acid using recovered carbon dioxide. Subsequently, both companies intend to build the pilot plant in Hengelo. Carbon dioxide will be used which is already captured and available from the waste-to-energy plant of Twence.
Coval Energy is developing innovative technology in order to convert CO2 and water into formic acid. Formic acid has a very high energy density – higher than the energy stored within a battery of similar weight – and can be used to generate electricity in fuel cells of vehicles. Formic acid produced out of CO2 and renewable electricity has the potential to displace fossil fuel-based feedstocks and intermediates in the chemical industry, thus contributing to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Coval Energy’s technology has reached a stage where it can scale-up from laboratory to industrial pilot scale.
Twence is developing a plant for large-scale CO2 capture from the flue gases of their waste-to-energy plant in order to make CO2 available for useful and sustainable application. As Twence is already exploiting a pilot scale CO2 capturing plant since 2014, the company is already gaining experience in capturing CO2 from flue gases. Herewith Twence produces sodium bicarbonate, which is utilized for cleaning flue gases.
During 2018 Coval Energy and Twence shall be cooperating on the design and construction of a pilot plant for the production of formic acid. This plant should become operational in 2019.
Key elements of the research are the conversion efficiency, and secondly, the lifetime of the electrodes within the electrochemical cell which form the heart of the installation. The formic acid plant will initially be fed with CO2 from Twence, which is already available from the existing sodium bicarbonate system.
Reducing direct CO2 emissions and re-using CO2 in useful applications is a desired development, which is in line with Twence’s regional role and mission: Extracting more raw materials from waste and biomass, and producing more energy from renewable sources, contributing to a sustainable society. By capturing and re-using CO2 it becomes a useful and sustainable raw material. Thus, ultimately for the production of formic acid.
For Twence the project with Coval is very appealing because it offers the possibility for large-scale conversion of CO2 towards sustainable transport fuels at the Twence location in Hengelo, The Netherlands. For Coval Energy, it is an excellent opportunity to deploy its technology in an industrial setting and to accelerate the scaling-up of its technology.
About Twence
Twence recycles useful and raw materials and produces energy from non-fossil sources. In this way, we make a major contribution to the region and to our shareholders by reducing the use of fossil fuels and avoiding CO2 emissions.
Applying innovative technologies, we extract raw materials and energy from waste streams and biomass. These waste streams are sourced from the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. Since the spring of 2017, we are also producing solar energy. Our first solar farm is located on our site between Hengelo and Enschede.
About Coval Energy
Coval Energy is a clean-tech company that develops innovative technology to convert CO2 in a sustainable way into chemicals and fuels. The company was founded in 2015 by a number of experts in the fields of technology, chemicals, fuels and large-scale energy projects.
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For more information:
Twence, Albert Vos Coval Energy
a.vos@twence.nl info@covalenergy.com
www.twence.nl www.covalenergy.com
From left to right: Leendert Tamboer (Twence), Rien van Haperen (Coval Energy), Ido Sellis (Twence), Frank Schreurs (Coval Energy), Robert de Kler (Coval Energy) and Wim de Jong (Twence).