Aiming at an industry without CO2 emissions

The list of members of the Association for the Decarbonization of Industry is extremely diverse. In addition to the founding members Tech Cluster Zug, the regional energy and water supplier WWZ and Empa, the list includes the household appliance manufacturer V-ZUG, the industrial group Metall Zug AG, the recycling company AVAG, the pyrolysis plant manufacturer XGas Swiss, private market asset manager Partners Group, Accelleron Industries, ABB's turbocharging division, medtech company SHL Medical, VZ Depotbank AG, specialty chemicals company Sika, mobility company AMAG Group, technology group Siemens and Holcim as a provider of construction solutions. Although active in very different sectors, the partners want to work together to advance rapid and holistic CO₂ reductions in industrial applications.

Focus on a new production process for hydrogen

To decarbonize high-temperature industrial processes, the third largest energy consumers in Switzerland, a novel hydrogen production process based on the splitting of hydrogen (chemically H₂) from methane (CH₄) – a process called methane pyrolysis – will be applied in a planned demonstration plant in Zug. Methane is the main component of fossil natural gas and biogas, but can also be produced synthetically from renewable hydrogen and CO₂. In the planned demonstrator in the Zug Tech Cluster, pyrolytically generated hydrogen is to replace fossil natural gas in V-ZUG's enamelling furnaces, in order to demonstrate with this pilot project how such applications can be decarbonized. In parallel, the hydrogen will also be used by other industrial partners in their processes. In contrast to previous industrial hydrogen production, the pyrolysis of methane does not produce CO₂ as a by-product, but solid (powdered) carbon, which is to be further developed into a resource for construction and agriculture as part of the association's activities, for example as an admixture in building materials or enrichment of humus.

What is special about this new approach is that if synthetic methane is used instead of fossil natural gas for pyrolytic hydrogen production, this results in negative CO₂ emissions! This is because more CO₂ has to be removed from the atmosphere for the production of synthetic methane than is subsequently emitted trough all steps of the multi-step process. The carbon that is split off via methane pyrolysis is thus permanently removed from the atmosphere. Technologies with negative CO₂ emissions are urgently needed on a large scale if Switzerland is to achieve its CO₂ targets because around a quarter of the CO₂ emissions generated in Switzerland today (or 10 million tons) cannot be reduced by switching to renewable energy.

In parallel to pyrolytic hydrogen production, a decentralized electrolysis plant for the electricity-based production of hydrogen from water is also to be realized. Such plants supply high-purity hydrogen, which is, for instance, required for fuel-cell-powered trucks. Water electrolysis has higher overall efficiencies than methane pyrolysis, but does not achieve as low (or even negative) CO₂ emissions. In Zug, a decentralized approach for electrolysis, not tied to a power plant, is to be implemented because it avoids the ineffective distribution of hydrogen via trucks on the road. To avoid the need for decentralized power grid expansion, a "grid-serving" operating concept is to be developed in collaboration with the local power supplier, based on the utilization of free power grid capacities.

Rapid industrialization as a goal

In the field of electrolytic hydrogen production, industrialization is already advanced. Methane pyrolysis, on the other hand, is a process that has only been tested in the lab but has been widely studied scientifically and is on the threshold of industrial application. In the U.S., for example, the first large-scale carbon production plant was recently commissioned in collaboration with the tire industry. The Association for the Decarbonization of Industry is initially focusing on the use of methane pyrolysis in decentralized industrial plants connected to the gas grid. Around 50% of the high-temperature processes in Switzerland are suitable for this. With the realization of the demonstrator in Zug, the association intends to give this technology a boost for its industrialization. Thanks to their highly diverse technical backgrounds, the network partners are covering the entire value chain.