The Eurecat technology centre is coordinating the European Thunder project to develop a new modular technology for producing e-methanol from captured carbon dioxide, water vapour and waste heat. This initiative aims to reduce the costs and environmental impact associated with this sustainable synthetic fuel, one of the most promising alternatives for defossiling hard-to-electrify sectors such as maritime transport and the chemical industry.
The solution will be based on a modular device, a tandem thermo-electrocatalytic reactor, which will integrate CO₂ and water vapour capture, their electrochemical conversion and methanol synthesis into a single system. This integrated process will produce e-methanol while reducing the number of process stages compared with conventional technologies.
Furthermore, this integration eliminates intermediate equipment and processes, makes it possible to harness the waste heat generated during the reactions and simplifies e-methanol production, helping to reduce energy consumption, investment and operating costs, and dependence on external raw materials.
The consortium aims to “validate an efficient and adaptable technology that will make e-methanol commercially competitive and turn it into a viable alternative for defossiling hard-to-electrify sectors such as the chemical industry, long-distance maritime transport and other electricity-intensive sectors,” says Roger Miró, a researcher in Eurecat’s Chemical Technology Unit and technical coordinator of the project. He adds that “the new technology is expected to cut investment costs by up to 60 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent, helping to drive the energy transition.”
Maritime transport generates 3 percent of global CO₂ emissions and, in order to curb its climate impact, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 2023 Strategy sets emission reduction targets of 20 percent by 2030 and 70 percent by 2040, with net-zero emissions to be achieved by 2050.
To achieve this defossilisation, “the project will design, develop and validate by 2029 a modular, scalable technology which can be adapted to different industrial applications, with Eurecat contributing its expertise in reactor design and advanced catalyst synthesis,” says project coordinator Hannah Arpke, manager in Eurecat’s International Proposals Unit.
The technology centre promotes high-impact projects harnessing advanced technologies with the aim of strengthening industrial leadership and autonomy, advancing technological sovereignty, and enhancing the resilience, competitiveness and sustainability of businesses by accelerating the defossilisation of industrial processes to reduce their ecological footprint and mitigate climate change.
Eurecat coordinates the Thunder consortium, made up of the technology centre and six partners from five European countries: Politecnico di Torino, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Icodos GmbH, Methanol Reformer SL, nova-Institute and Jorcar. The THUNDER initiative has a budget of almost €4 million from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.
