Chemical Engineering August 2021 - 8

FOSSIL-FREE SPONGE IRON
A strategic partnership between Kanthal AB
(Stockholm, Sweden; www.kanthal.com) and
Hybrit aims to develop an electric gas-heating
solution for the fossil-free hydrogen used to
reduce iron ore in the Hybrit process. Hybrit
(hydrogen breakthrough ironmaking technology)
is a cooperation between the steel
company SSAB, mining company LKAB and
the energy company Vattenfall. Its aim is to
replace the coal-based blast furnace process
with a direct reduction process, based on H2
produced with fossil-free electricity.
One of the challenges in the Hybrit process is
the ability to preheat large amounts of H2, and
this is where Kanthal will contribute. " Many industries
around the world are struggling to find
a solution that can heat large amounts of gas
right now, " says says Anders Björklund, president,
Kanthal. " With this collaboration, we can
develop a viable solution together. "
Currently, Hybrit operates a pilot plant in
northern Sweden, and Kanthal is developing
the first heater and preparing it for testing
in the pilot plant. The heater will be in the
250-kW range. If it proves successful, it will
be upgraded to a 1-MW version. The goal is
to develop a large-scale heating solution that
could heat high volumes of H2 up to 1,000°C.
The development project is supported by the
Swedish Energy Agency.
In addition to the pilot plant, Hybrit plans for
an industrial-scale demonstration plant, to be
commissioned by 2026 and produce 1 million
ton/yr of iron. If Kanthal's heating solution
meets the technical, financial and time
requirements of the pilot plant, it will be scaled
up and installed in the demonstration plant.
MYCELIUM-BASED LEATHER
Leather and synthetic-leather production have
a large negative environmental impact due to
resource-intensive processes and hazardous
chemicals used during production. One alternative
is fungal mycelium, a bio-based raw
material that can be sustainably processed
into leather-like materials. Until now, however,
increasing the production volume with current
methods has been challenging due to mycelium
cultivation taking place in a planar twodimensional
form that is limited in size.
Now, a team of researchers from VTT Technical
Research Center of Finland Ltd (Espoo,
Finland; www.vttresearch.com) has demonstrated
that its technology enables the continuous
manufacturing of mycelium leather
sheets by the meter. The approach is applicable
to industrial roll-to-roll production.
VTT's patent-pending technology for producing
mycelium leather-alternative materials
is based on growing mycelium in common
bioreactors. The benefits of this approach
are that liquid fermentation in bioreactors is
easily scalable to commercial scales. VTT's
film-making process enables continuous mycelium
leather-alternative production using
VTT's pilot equipment. The benefits of this
(Continues on p. 9)
8
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM AUGUST 2021
A project to further develop solar-thermalenergy
storage technology
S
ynhelion S.A. (Lugano, Switzerland;
www.synhelion.com)
and the Swiss Federal Laboratories
for Materials Science
and Technology (Empa; Dübendorf;
www.empa.ch) are conducting a joint
research project, co-funded by the
Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse,
to further develop a high-temperature
energy-storage technology that is a
key component in the production of
climate-friendly solar fuels. The project
will enable the cost-effective and scalable
storage of high-temperature solar
heat at over 1,000°C for the first time.
The storage technology is expected
to be used in Synhelion's first industrial-scale
solar fuel production facility,
which will be built in 2022.
Synhelion
produces
are compatible
sustainable
with
fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and
kerosene that
conventional internal combustion engines
and jet engines. The ETH Zurich
spin-off has developed a solar
thermochemical process based on
process heat generated from concentrated
sunlight to produce these synthetic
fuels (see Solar Chemistry Heats
Up, Chem. Eng., March 2018, pp.
12-16). To enable the chemical reactors
for solar fuel production to operate
around the clock, a cost-effective,
high-temperature thermal energy storage
(TES) is needed. This solution
stores part of the solar energy to be
used during the night and cloudy periods,
enabling continuous operation of
the reactors, thereby significantly increasing
plant capacity and drastically
reducing capital expenditure.
Currently, there is no TES on the
market that is compatible with the
high temperatures, cycle times and
heat-transfer fluid of Synhelion's technology.
For this reason, Synhelion is
further developing the solid heat-storage
technology, enabling the storage
of high-temperature solar heat of over
1,000°C in a cost-effective and scalable
manner for the first time. As part
of the research project with Empa,
storage and insulation capabilities
will be optimized in terms of material
costs, high specific heat capacity and
service life. Additionally, a design for
Synhelion's industrial-scale
plant is being developed.
solar-fuel
Low-energy hydrogenation without H2 gas
H
ydrogenation is an important
reaction in many sectors of
the chemical process industries
(CPI), but H2 gas is not
only expensive, its use requires considerable
safety measures to prevent
explosions. Significant cost savings
could be achieved if hydrogenations
did not require compressed H2 gas.
Researchers at the Dept. of Chemical
Sciences, University of Johannesburg
(South Africa; www.uj.ac.za) have
taken a step in this direction by developing
a safe, low-energy process
for transforming nitrobenzene, a toxic
waste product, into aniline, an important
feedstock for many chemicals
and medicines - without the need
for compressed H2.
The researchers use a so-called
Pickering emulsion - an emulsion
that is stabilized by solid particles -
to convert nitrobenzene into aniline. As
described in a recent issue of Colloids
and Surfaces, the hydrogenation takes
place at the aqueous-organic interface
of the Pickering emulsion, where the
solid catalyst particles also serve to
stabilize the emulsion.
The catalyst consists of modified
silica microspheres and palladium,
as well as a bimetallic catalyst (PdM,
where M = Co, Ni). The other two
phases of the emulsion are toluene,
which dissolves the nitrobenzene,
and an aqueous solution of sodium
borohydride. The stable droplets of
the
water-toluene emulsion act as
microreactors for the reaction, with
the NaBH4 supplying the hydrogen
needed for the reduction.
If the three phases are added together,
but not mixed, the combination
can be stored for days or weeks, says
professor Reinout Meijboom. When
the three phases are mixed into an
emulsion, which takes a few seconds,
the catalyst kick-starts the reaction. At
the laboratory scale, the reaction takes
about 2 h at room temperature.
The emulsion process has the potential
to be a much safer industrial hydrogenation
process than those currently
in use, says Meijboom.
http://www.kanthal.com http://www.synhelion.com http://www.empa.ch http://www.uj.ac.za http://www.vttresearch.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering August 2021

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