Carbon2Chem® is marking its tenth anniversary these days — a milestone that symbolizes one of the most ambitious industrial transformations of our time: the systematic use of green hydrogen and CO₂ from steel production as a raw material base for the chemical industry.
Matthias Kammel, Managing Director of thyssenkrupp Carbon2Chem® GmbH, looks back: "We started with a shared idea: we don't view CO₂ and other components of blast furnace gases as waste, but as a raw material. We use this raw material to close carbon cycles and systemically connect steel production, the energy sector, and the chemical industry. In doing so, we can help reduce industrial emissions."
Over the past ten years, Carbon2Chem® has grown into a cross-industry research and development project involving more than twenty partners from industry and academia. These include several thyssenkrupp companies as well as research institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.
Sector Coupling as a Shared Mission
From the groundbreaking ceremony for the pilot plant in Duisburg in 2016 to today, Carbon2Chem® has evolved into a platform for cross-sector collaboration. Its foundation lies in the recognition that blast furnace gases contain valuable components — carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen — that serve as key building blocks for chemical products such as methanol, ammonia, and synthetic fuels.
Acting as a bridge between basic research and industrial application, the pilot plant has played a central role throughout these years: it enabled key process steps to be studied under real-world conditions and processes to be developed further step by step. In doing so, it has generated robust scientific findings and data over time.
Nadja Håkansson, COO of thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies and CEO of thyssenkrupp Uhde, puts it in context: "Carbon2Chem® is an example of a strong willingness to break new technological ground. Industry and academia bring their expertise together to solve key challenges for a sustainable climate directly at the core of industrial processes. By integrating and networking different systems and value chains, CO₂ is used to create new value chains for sustainable chemicals and fuels while simultaneously reducing harmful emissions."
Prof. Robert Schlögl, project coordinator for basic research, adds: "Linking steel, energy, and chemistry not only opens up pathways to reduce emissions but also helps stabilize energy systems: renewable energy can be flexibly integrated into industrial processes this way — a contribution to system stability that extends far beyond any single site."
From Demonstration to Industrial Perspective
As the technology matures, the question of scaling is increasingly moving into focus. The processes developed within the project form the basis for industrial applications and new business models along sustainable value chains. At the same time, the product portfolio is being continuously expanded to meet the growing demand for climate-friendly chemicals and energy carriers.
Dr. Markus Oles, project coordinator for the participating industrial companies, describes the current development: "Interest in carbon recycling applications is now evident across all industries. By establishing CO2 as a raw material, we are strengthening economic resilience for the long term. Alongside large-scale industrial applications, innovative SMEs are also increasingly interested in these technologies today, to keep carbon flexibly within the cycle."
Prof. Görge Deerberg, project coordinator for application-oriented research, takes stock: "The experience gained over ten years of Carbon2Chem® confirms that transforming energy-intensive industries is achievable — when technology, partnership, and staying power come together to shape this ongoing transformation process. This experience from close collaboration between basic research, application-oriented research, and industry is also an offer to business and academia alike: as guidance and encouragement for similar undertakings."
Looking Ahead: Hydrogen and Sustainable Aviation Fuel
A second electrolysis hall is currently being built at the site, complementing the existing hall that houses thyssenkrupp nucera's pilot electrolyzer for producing green hydrogen. Its handover to thyssenkrupp nucera is planned for next year and will strengthen hydrogen supply at the site — an important infrastructural prerequisite for continuous industrial operation.
Dr. Werner Ponikwar, CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera, underscores the site's significance: "Carbon2Chem® has been and continues to be invaluable for advancing our electrolysis technology. The site offers a unique industrial environment where new technologies can be tested under real-world conditions in practical operation and produce hydrogen. Ten years of Carbon2Chem® show how important such industrial testing and development environments are for bringing technologies toward application and scale."
Alongside the construction of the additional electrolysis hall, the go-ahead was also given for building a plant to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Duisburg. This extends Carbon2Chem®'s use of CO₂ as a raw material to aviation for the first time — a sector where climate-friendly alternatives are especially urgently needed.
Matthias Kammel sums up: "Ten years of Carbon2Chem® show what is possible when industry and academia work together, with persistence, on a task bigger than any single actor. The next chapter is beginning — with the ambition of translating what we've learned into industrial scale."
Source: thyssenkrupp AG
