A Bengaluru-based start-up has received the National Award 2021 from the Technology Development Board for developing a commercial solution for conversion of carbon dioxide to chemicals and fuels, the Department of Science and Technology said on Monday.
The start-up ‘Breathe Applied Sciences’ incubated at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru developed efficient catalysts and methodologies for the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to methanol and other chemicals.
“It has led to improvisation of process engineering to enhance the production of chemicals and fuels from anthropogenic CO2 generated from various sources, including coal and natural gas power generation sectors, steel industry, cement industry, chemical industries; and integrating multiple components involved in CCUS (Carbon capture, utilization and sequestration) to develop a complete solution for the environmental issues due to global warming,” the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said.
The research was carried out by Prof Sebastian C Peter and his group from the New Chemistry unit at JNCASR. He is also the co-founder and director of Breathe Applied Sciences which was started from funding by DST’s Nano Mission.
The start-up has also signed an agreement with JNCASR, an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology, for transfer of the technology based on lab-scale research on reducing CO2 to methanol and other useful chemicals and fuels.
The MoU helped in smooth translation of the research in the area of CO2 reduction to useful chemicals and fuels from the laboratory scale to pilot scale economically.
“In the pilot mode, the current capacity of CO2 conversion is 300 kg per day, which can be scaled up to several 100 tons in an industrial scale. It will take some time to reach the level of industrial production. A few industry sectors are in discussion with Breathe Applied Sciences for potential use of our developed technology soon,” Peter said.