Energy company Fortum has successfully completed a pilot project in which carbon dioxide emissions from the Riihimäki waste incineration plant were converted to methane. The next phase is the production of carbon dioxide-based plastics.

With the CCU pilot, Fortum became one of the first companies in the world to successfully capture its own carbon dioxide emissions and produce methane from them.

The Finnish company says it is now one step closer to revolutionizing the entire waste incineration sector.

“Integrating carbon capture into waste incineration and thereby converting emissions into plastics helps reduce dependence on fossil raw materials, improve Europe's self-sufficiency and eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from waste incineration,” says Fortum's Carbon2x-project manager Tony Rehn.

Research laboratory to be operational by the end of the year

“The goal in the development phase now underway is to find the right technology to convert captured carbon dioxide into plastic.”

The company will next build a research laboratory at its Riihimäki site, which is scheduled to be put into operation at the end of this year.

“The mobile laboratory, built in a shipping container, utilizes the latest technology, which allows us to test different production methods for converting our carbon dioxide emissions into plastic,” Rehn says.

Towards an industrial-scale pilot plant

According to Rehn, the company has already launched research into carbon dioxide-based plastics.

“Carbon dioxide-based plastics have many different applications. They can be used in food packaging, textiles and cosmetics, for example,” he describes.

In addition to the Riihimäki plant, Fortum has waste incineration plants in Denmark and Sweden and a new plant under construction in the UK. The company anticipates piloting CCU technologies and solutions at these plants as well.

Fortum is now preparing a possible industrial-scale pilot plant, which could start up within five years.

Text: Päivi Ikonen/ Kemiamedia.fi

Photo: Fortum. Fortum's recycling and waste business aims to improve the material cycle of waste streams through new generation circular economy solutions. In Riihimäki, carbon emissions will be used to produce specialty plastics.