INITIATE HOLDS ITS PROGRESS MEETING AT JOHNSON MATTHEY’S FACILITIES IN THE UK

On the 9th of November, we ended our two-day INITIATE Progress Meeting, kindly hosted by our British project partner Johnson Matthey (JM) in its facilities in Billingham, United Kingdom.

The first day of the meeting started with a detailed overview of the project’s status by our Project Coordinator Eric van Dijk, which also gave the consortium the chance to engage in an open discussion about the overall financial and time planning of INITIATE.

The second half of the day saw our project partners presenting the most recent actions they have undertaken within their work packages, as well as exploring ways to tackle the project's challenges and discuss the next steps for the upcoming months.

On the 10th of November, Bartje Alewijnse and Willem Manders from TNO moderated a fulfilling workshop to support project partners in making decisions regarding long-term implementations.

For the long-term implementation plan, a use case analysis of the carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) value chain, including SEWGS to produce hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or urea was performed. The outcomes of this analysis were used to identify the key cost drivers and uncertainties of the case and translated into a roadmap draft.

The workshop, which was held within the framework of WP6, gave project partners the chance to review and further develop this use case analysis and roadmap. The roadmap included an ultimate potential, pathways and next steps for the following dimensions: geography, end-market, product, technology development, and ecosystem development.

As part of the next steps, the consortium also discussed the benefits and the potential drawbacks of commercial setups, such as licensing and joint-venture structures.

Overall, the workshop served as a valuable start to the transition towards long-term implementation of the INITIATE value chain.

After lunch, JM project leaders gave the participants a site tour demonstrating the company’s expertise in catalyst technologies. The tour included the demonstration of JM’s state-of-the-art capabilities for lab-scale design and development of functional materials, combining expertise in materials preparation, advanced characterisation, and evaluation of materials performance. Additionally, the consortium was shown JM’s expertise and capabilities for functional materials scale-up, which is crucial for the INITIATE technology development, enabling the transformation of residual carbon-rich gas into resources for urea production.

Thank you JM for your warm hospitality and thank you to our project partners for joining us in such great numbers. It’s been such a rewarding ride!