How ERC fits in industry
ERC is one of very few examples of CCR (Carbon Capture and Recycling).
Mantra Energy owns a powerful, flexible technology, Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide (ERC). Mantra Energy Alternatives Ltd.’s mission is to become the world leader in production of high value, carbon negative chemicals and fuels. Mantra’s ERC system will reduce the problem greenhouse gas CO2 and convert it into a series of valuable chemicals, a form of carbon capture and recycling (CCR). There are currently 27 Billion metric tonnes of CO2 emitted annually from fossil fuel combustion, an inexhaustible supply of feedstock. The first product is formic acid (HCOOH) which commands a market of approximately USD $1 billion.
Conceptual flowchart of ERC system
Mantra owns the intellectual property PCT applied for WO 2007/041872 A1, Continuous Co-current Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide. This was acquired from Professor Colin Oloman’s company. Worldwide patenting is underway.
Progress has been made with the development of ERC:
- the energy requirement has been reduced by a third
- the process efficiency raised from 50% to 90% (a figure that is acceptable in an electrochemical process)
- the physical structure has been improved and energy flow eased
- the cathode catalyst has been upgraded, its efficiency and lifetime improved
- and a complete turnkey system suitable for industry has been conceived and the separate parts tested.
Mantra will shortly start on demonstration projects in North America and in Asia which will show ERC to industry and back up its claims. Especially important is the data on economics that will result. At present, based on conservative calculations, Mantra has forecasts a 20 to 24% ROI (return on investment). Real-world demonstration testing will refine and confirm these figures, giving Mantra a realistic platform for its next stage – sale of commercial plants (probably two years in the future). The demonstration projects will open up markets in power utilities and cement production for sales in the hundreds of $millions USD, which will then grow.
In regard to scale up: many new technologies struggle to go from laboratory prototypes up to full sized commercial plants. One of the advantages of ERC is that it is electrochemistry, an established and well understood branch of chemicals processing. Electrochemistry is developed first for a single cell, and each cell thereafter is identical to the others. Scale up is a matter of installing the number of cells needed to meet the production goal, not of developing and expanding a single chemical process. Scale up is simple.
The range of chemistry possibilities based on ERC with CO2 as feedstock
Further development of ERC: Various strategies are being explored to expand existing markets and develop new markets for formate and formic acid (the two current ERC products). A number of clean, green chemicals processes can be created based on the use of a carbon negative feedstock – formic acid from ERC. Additional chemicals (products) are envisioned for future production by a modified ERC. All will add large new markets.
ERC has the potential to become a world leading technology in production of high value, carbon negative chemicals and fuels, while at the same time actively reducing the problematic greenhouse gas, CO2. Instead, it will convert it into a series of valuable chemicals.