The market
The global carbon market is estimated at $ 52 billion. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe. Its consumption has gradually evolved from carbon black in bulk for color pigments and tires ($ 1,000 per tonne), active coal for water filters ($ 2,000 per tonne), carbon fibers for textiles Solids and automotive body parts where it can replace steel (25,000 dollars per tonne) to advanced carbon nanotubes for the medical industries of semiconductors, to name only these (more than $ 150,000 per dollars per dollars per dollars per dollars per dollars per tonne). In the future, carbon transformed into graphene, a material in the shape of a honeycomb resembling a fence of the thickness of an atom, which should become an essential component of solar cells, electrodes and transistors, go increase global demand. The cost price of a square centimeter of graphene is still greater than a million dollars, but by 2050, graphene could be one of the most important and effective components of the industry, made from carbon widely available in the atmosphere, known to be excess and cause climate change. The global carbon black market in 2010 was estimated at $ 12 billion. The Chinese and Indian markets are experiencing rapid growth of 8 to 10 % per year, mainly due to the increase in car sales. Carbon black is generally used in tires to improve resistance and to evacuate heat, thus improving the durability of the rubber. Carbon black is also sold as a pigment in photocopiers and printers, as neutralizing ultraviolet in plastics, for example in black water pipes, and as high -end version, it is used in radar absorption. Another possible bulk market for carbon is the mixture and replacement of certain mineral fertilizers with carbon blacks ($ 500 per tonne), since cultivated land undergo a loss of carbon caused by industrial agriculture. However, the global market was characterized by an excess offer due in particular to the expansion of Cabot in China, Indonesia, Brazil and Argentina. The largest supplier in volume is the Indian group Aditya Birla which exceeded Cabot (United States) and Evonik (Germany) by the acquisition of Columbian Chemicals, an American producer, for a combined production capacity of 2 million tonnes and A turnover of around $ 2 billion. Evonik plans to sell his division specializing in carbon darkness in order to focus on specialty chemistry.
Innovation
Carbon black suspended in the air has become a major environmental concern. When released freely in the air, it constitutes a pollutant that is generally found in cities and nearby. Goodyear managed to replace carbon black with a polymer based on biodegradable starch, provided by Novamont (see Case 20). However, this has not become a current application. In the past, the source of carbon black was the charred bones, dried grape wines and soot from the combustion of oil. Modern transformation has evolved into a large industrial manufacturing using the heaviest fractions of oil from refineries. However, the largest installation ever put into service was only operational for three years in Montreal, Canada, using natural gas and oil as raw materials. The main production was hydrogen, and carbon black was the by-product. Unfortunately, the high cost of raw material (petroleum or natural gas) has rendered the non -competitive operation. Per Espen Stoknes has studied innovative means of producing hydrogen and has explored many alternatives. He met the British inventor Phil Risby, who had studied numerous applications of plasma technologies, including the fractionation of methane. Per Espen had been attracted by the concept of zero emission for mobility, a concept that seems viable if hydrogen provides energy. In 2008, they created Gasplas As, an Anglo-Norwegian company and they started to study how to create a carbon well while using clean energy sources. Stimulated by Daimler's decision to test hydrogen cars in Norway, they have undertaken to design a real renewable sector from biogas. The conversion of organic matter from food waste, animal excrement and even the black waters of biogaz households has been successfully improved by Scandinavian Biogas (see Case 51). This offers a rich supply of CO2 and methane. Gasplas AS's research team has designed a revolutionary reactor that converts methane with cold hydrogen and carbon black plasma. Using standard cheap microwave components, they created a plasma reactor and patented the corresponding components. Gasplas innovation uses short electromagnetic waves (longer than infrared and shorter than radio waves) to convert methane into plasma. Physics has traditionally taught us to work with three states: solid, liquid and gaseous. Microwaves convert methane into its fourth state, plasma state, an ionized gas that breaks carbon and hydrogen connections during fractions of a second before encouraging these elements to recombine in solid and hydrogen gas carbon. Since microwaves coupled to electrons and not at the atom, the output temperature is between 200 and 400 degrees, hence the concept of cold plasma, since the thermal plasma requires a temperature ten times higher. This makes the process viable at low energy consumption and with cheap materials.
The first cash flow
Gasplas, now chaired by PER ESPEN, quickly realized that it has a platform technology that has the potential to change the economic model, not only for hydrogen production, but also for manufacturing carbon black, and many other companies could be affected. Like methane from landfills and livestock is the source of 12 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, the Gasplas team offers to use cold plasma to potentially transform this hydrocarbon abundant into negative carbon carbon and in fertilizers. While plasma has already been used to produce hydrogen, Phil Risby and Gasplas' research team have found a way to operate the new reactor in continuous mode, as well as on request (not only by lots), At atmospheric pressure (not near the vacuum) and in industrial quantities (not only for very high level and low volume applications). In addition, even if the reactor could be transposed on a larger scale, the possibility of building reactors which allow continuous treatment on site opens a new window for local competitive companies. The first reactor designed this fall is capable of producing up to 100 kilograms of hydrogen (H2) and 300 kg of carbon per day.
The opportunity
If and when five diesel buses had to operate for 20 years with hydrogen produced from biogas, then instead of having issued 5,000 tonnes of CO2, these buses would have used 6,100 tonnes of greenhouse gases. This places the power of hydrogen in a whole new context. The operation of a small unit connected to a stable source of biogas could produce 200 kg of H2, generating an annual turnover of around 650,000 euros. Carbon black can be sold for an additional extra profit of approximately 10%. If they were stored in building materials or sequestrated in the soil, the operation of these buses would in fact be negative in carbon, that is to say it would be profitable to extract CO2 from the atmosphere. The more hydrogen buses or cars are driven, the less CO2 will be in the air. While PER ESPEN sees many applications beyond transport, such as the treatment of agricultural waste, the production of key chemicals such as methanol and ethylene, its vision is to create an integrated local system. In order to overcome the bottlenecks of the production, consumption and availability of hydrogen, whose storage remains expensive, it provides a container capable of providing hydrogen as a source of fuel on demand. Thus, instead of producing hydrogen centrally and then shipping it worldwide, any biogas installation would be done - even on a relatively small scale - a source of income, generating income higher for waste management while capturing CO2 profitably. One of the attractions of this technological platform is that the same approach to hydrogen could be applied to the synthesis of gas nitrogen from air, thus offering an nitrogen fertilizer of industrial quality for agriculture. The same type of plasma reactor could be developed to make liquid fuels from sparkling raw materials. The revolutionary application of cold plasma technology offers the possibility of converting income costs, one of the main characteristics of the blue economy. This reduces waste -related costs, generally covered by taxes, offering an additional chance to reduce taxes. This is perhaps one of the most encouraging business climates to stimulate business spirit-business models that allow local taxes in times of crisis.
