About ACCELERATE

Global warming poses a threat to humanity, making it urgent to find technologies to reduce emissions and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The chemical industry, responsible for ~5-6% of global emissions, needs alternative routes to produce chemical and pharmaceutical products. Sweden, with its biomass industry and chemical infrastructure, is positioned well to explore bio-energy combined with carbon capture and utilization (BECCSU) – hence use biogenic CO2 to make valuable chemicals. 

This research center focuses on innovative technologies for capturing and converting CO2 and on creating sustainable value chains for chemical production. Significant research gaps remain in scaling up carbon capture and storage and carbon capture and utilization, such as reducing energy use in CO2 capture. Our goal is to create novel porous liquids to reduce energy costs. Although promising, more research is needed on their chemistry and engineering to see if they are industrially relevant. Another key focus is converting CO2 into high-value chemical products rather than just storing it. 

This approach promotes circularity and market-driven development. Here too, there are research gaps in the synthesis and production of long-lasting, high-value products from CO2. Therefore, our work also aims to develop solvents, polymers, and pharmaceutical building blocks, while avoiding products with rapid turnover (jet fuel) or low value (methanol). 

The center involves collaboration between research groups from KTH and Stockholm University, bringing together experts in areas like CO2 chemistry, catalysis, process technology, simulations, sustainability assessment, industrial economics, social impact, and policy. As established researchers, they are involved in related projects under the Horizon Europe framework, supporting the center's work. Insights from new energy- and resource-efficient material flows from CO2, along with training for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, will help reduce CO2 emissions and add economic value to Swedish companies. Several companies and stakeholders are part of the research to ensure relevance and practicality. 

This center will educate experts and make Sweden an innovation hub in the field. Therefore, it will put Sweden in world leading position in developing and scaling-up BECCSU as a promising net-negative emission technology.