Energy-saving production of organic urea andcarbamates from atmospheric CO2:Life Cycle Perspectives on
Combined Carbon Capture and Conversion
Approaches

5th October 2022
Yasuhiro FUKUSHIMA, Tohoku University, Japan1

Combined Carbon Capture and Conversion (quad-C)• Characteristics• Low energy consumptionAir• no reduction of carbon in CO2Amine• Carbamides (organic ureas)• Carbamate esters(ex. PUR materials)• no CO2 desorption• capture and conversion take place
in a single process operation byusing dual function materials

near-saturated
carbamic acidsolutionseparators
sectionmembrane quad-C module

post quad-C module

CO2 + Amine
à Carbamic acid

Carbamic acidà Organic urea + H2O• Safety (non-phosgene route)• Many utilize phosgene as thecarbonyl sourceà Some start to utilize
Urea, Carbonates, or CO2• We utilize heterogeneous (solid)
catalyst that makes the processsimpler and more efficient

Organicurea

LCA
ModelsMoonshot
Goal

Modules
Process
DesignSchemes

H2O

Assist the process innovations
for productionof MANY
chemicals
fromatmosphericCO2.
2Characteristics of chemicals from CO2
Producing basic chemicals

Producing final chemicals(ex. methane, ethylene)(ex. polymers, coating materials, solvents, …)

HighAir
Biomass
EoL products

Captured / CtG Emission
Carbohydrates

Alcohol

Production

Production

Foreground
Process
gas treatment

Air

Nitrogen

Water
Electric power

Renewable

Air / Gas

Low

Production

Hydrogen
Production

Ammonia

Amine

Production

Production

quad-C
CO2 recovery= 0~100%

0.04 ~ 30% CO2

carbamate esters,organic urea

CO2-lean Air

wastewater
treatment

3

Life Cycle Perspectives:

Indicators for Validation of C-balance
LCA for Validation of Carbon Balance
Fixed CO2 whenproduced via DAC

Cradle to Gateemission for DAC

kg-CO2 / kg-productkg-CO2 / kg-productChemicals
Abbrev.

IUPAC nameEU2-imidazolidinone

Usage: Formaldehyde scavenger,
Synthetic resins, Agrochemicals, etc.

0.511

Background Emission Inventories @current
Ø EDA: 5.47 kg-CO2 eq. /kg-EDA
Ø Elec. Power: 0.594 kg-CO2 eq. /kWhNEDO recommends …
0.158 @2030
0.00665 @ 2040

9.7 – 11.0
quad-C@2020

Opportunity for CO2 utilization at
End of Life
Incineration
Wastewater treatment
Dissipation into atmosphere• This is lower than current method.
• Most of the emissions are fromreactants and electric power.
à will approach to zero,by 2050.
• Low energy consumption
becomes important to reduce thecompetition with other purposes.
4Life Cycle Perspectives:

Providing insights to module design
ü Even with CO2 recovery = 15%
our process will consume only < 50%
the energy compared to the benchmark*.
* DAC pilot by Carbon Engineering（CO2 recovery = 75%）
+ Our catalytic converter for Ethylene Urea productionMore compact( = more economically attractive)
modules should be designed.

< 50%even more energy saving
if we feed a higher conc. gas

5Future vision of quad-C based DAC-U

Outputs:
To develop quad-C processes tuned for
4 chemicals
à demonstrate at project pilot
and commercial pilot
à sufficient variety to covermajor module combinations
To provide process design templatesà assist process innovations for other chemicals

SUPPLEMENTARY

formaldehyde scavenger,
agrochemicals, etc.

Aprotic solvent(potential) PUR raw material

Outcomes

Producing most of the carbamate
esters and organic ureas
using quad-C processes.
precursor for
PUR raw material (i.e., HDI)
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