The aim of Carbon4PtL is to develop a feasibility study on how carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be made available sustainably and economically for power-to-liquid (PtL) production. Critical process points, such as the purity of the CO₂, will be analysed and the sustainability and economic viability of the processes evaluated. To this end, CENA Hessen is working with research institutes and industrial partners in the Carbon4PtL project from 2024-2026.

CENA Hessen is the project coordinator for Carbon4PtL and is investigating the extent to which the existing regulatory framework would need to be adapted in order to make CO₂ usable as a product. We are looking at the regulatory framework for the processing of carbon sources for fuel production, analysing existing barriers to investment and developing recommendations for action based on this. The project is being funded with around 0.63 million euros by the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas (HMWVW).

The planned feasibility study creates transparency about the existing CO₂ point sources and the prospective emission performance based on various scenarios. This enables targeted CO₂ management measures and their monitoring.

By using real data from Hessian CO₂ point sources, forecasts on their future development and taking into account the specific conditions in Hessen, the results and findings of the study should be as close to reality as possible. Alternative utilisation options for CO₂ are partially taken into account in this study, as these also require purifying and logistics. It would be possible to utilise CO₂ as a raw material (Carbon Capture and Usage, CCU) outside of PtL fuels, e.g. in the chemical industry, or possibly to transfer it to storage sites (Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS).

Carbon4PtL covers the entire supply chain from possible CO₂ point sources to logistics and CO₂ utilisation in PtL synthesis. Individual PtL plants already exist, but there is no scientific analysis that covers the entire CO₂ supply chain and thus sheds light on issues relating to the scaling of industrial CO₂ utilisation.

We deal with the following research questions along the value chain:

• Which CO₂ (point) sources exist in Hessen today and which are to be expected in the future?
• What quantities of CO₂ are produced today and are likely to be produced in the future?
• What are the compositions of the various exhaust gases?
• How can the CO₂ be captured and purified?
• What are the costs of capturing and purifying CO₂?
• How are the CO₂ sources distributed in Hessen and which locations are suitable for processing plants?
• What could a product definition for CO₂ look like?
• How can industrial CO₂ be utilised in technical and regulatory terms?
• How sustainable, economically and ecologically, would CO₂ utilisation (CCU) be compared to storage (CCS)?

In addition to green hydrogen, CO₂ is also required for the production of e-fuels. There are various possible sources for this: while biogenic sources (e.g. used cooking oil) tend to be limited, extraction from the atmosphere (direct air capture, DAC) is complex and currently still very expensive due to the low CO₂ concentration. Industrial point sources are another source of CO₂. The majority of CO₂ emissions from point sources originate from the combustion of fossil fuels. However, there are also process-related emissions, e.g. in the cement and lime industries. Although these cannot be avoided by switching to renewable energies, they offer the potential to be utilised for the production of e-fuels in the future.

The consortium is made up of five project partners and is supported by four associated partners from industry.

The partners in the Carbon4PtL project include CENA Hessen, the Centre for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), the Frankfurt University of Applied Science (FRA UAS), INERATEC GmbH and the Provadis School of International Management & Technology AG. Associated partners are Dyckerhoff GmbH, Fritz Winter Eisengießerei GmbH & Co. KG, HIM GmbH and Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. Höchst KG.