PLASMA-BASED, POINT-SOURCE CCU TECHNOLOGY TO RECYCLE CO₂ INTO ADDED VALUE CHEMICALS TO DECARBONISE HARD-TO-ABATE INDUSTRIES

In the urgent battle against climate change, a pivotal strategy involves the substantial and rapid reduction of CO₂ emissions. A key approach to achieve this is through the capture of CO₂ at its source. Particularly in industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels, capturing CO₂ at chimneys prevents its release into the atmosphere. The fundamental concept of capturing carbon – subsequently repurposing it for valuable products or securely storing it underground – stands as a crucial lever in the drive to decarbonise challenging sectors, offering a pathway to emit less CO₂ in the future. Despite the challenges faced by Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) technologies, such as initial investment costs and the complexity of retrofitting existing infrastructure, D-CRBN emerges as a beacon of optimism and innovation. As a spin-off from the University of Antwerp and after a decade of groundbreaking research at PLASMANT, our climate tech company has developed cutting-edge technology capable of converting CO₂ into its original building blocks. Our innovative approach involves the recycling of captured CO₂ through a fully electrified, gaseous-phase system – a process that is free from solvents and catalysts, thanks to our proprietary plasma-based technology.

This Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) process generates value-added products such as e-fuels, polymers, and chemicals. Our strategic location at the Port of Antwerp allows us to focus on port applications for the (petro)chemical, metallurgical, and maritime transport sectors. D-CRBN offers its industrial clients a CCU solution that can connect directly to the existing CCS value chain to transform the captured CO₂, located at dense chemical clusters, ports, or at the specific clients’ sites, into added value chemicals, creating:

1. An alternative route to the underground storage of CO₂
2. A new revenue stream, commercialising the produced chemicals obtained from recycling their emissions
3. A green feedstock from their own emissions, replacing fossil feedstocks.

The uniqueness of D-CRBN’s solution lies in its ability not only to eliminate point source emissions and decarbonise industries but also to replace fossil feedstocks with recycled CO₂, thereby producing chemicals with added value. Beyond its environmental impact, this technology holds the promise of providing strategic and decentralised resource independence to regions and industries traditionally reliant on oil and natural gas derivatives for their processes. In essence, D-CRBN is pioneering a transformative shift towards sustainability, where CO₂ recycling not only reduces environmental impact but also catalyses the creation of novel, economically valuable products.