Source: European Investment Bank
What if carbon dioxide could itself be turned into a fuel? Such a neat solution for the waste gas that’s causing climate change may be just round the corner, because German start-up INERATEC has developed a chemical process to do just that.
“We’re reversing the combustion process,” explains Tim Boeltken, INERATEC’s chief executive. “The chemical process we’ve created takes the greenhouse gas CO2 that nobody wants and combines it with green hydrogen to create a synthetic hydrocarbon fuel.”
INERATEC’s method could reduce emissions in a number of sectors that have few clean alternatives, including aviation, which accounts for a growing share of global greenhouse gas emissions. The company already has clients in the aviation, shipping and chemicals industries, but to demonstrate its technology at a larger scale, it is building a facility near Frankfurt airport with the backing of a €40 million venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank. The deal is supported by the European Union’s InvestEU programme and includes a €30 million grant from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a financing platform for climate innovation founded by Bill Gates.
“The aviation industry is struggling to decarbonize,” says Stephan Mitrakas, a senior loan officer who worked on the deal at the European Investment Bank. “Alternatives to jet fuel, such as electricity and hydrogen, both have major drawbacks and would require the development of a completely new infrastructure set up for transport, storage and fueling.”
“The beauty of synthetic fuels is that you can keep the infrastructure we already have,” Mitrakas adds. “You can take the synthetic fuel from INERATEC, mix it in with the kerosene that planes currently use, and the aeroplane will work. INERATEC is the most promising start-up in the field right now, certainly in Europe and probably in the world.”