The consortium partners have applied to receive €97 million in funding for the total investment, which is expected to cost more than €230 million. The facility planned to begin large-scale production by 2026 will be built at Swedish chemical producer Perstorp’s Stenungsund site and, the company said, strengthen the regional chemical industry cluster Hållbar Kemi 2030.

As a next step, the project will enter the EU’s Grant Agreement Preparation process, which is due to be completed during the 2022 fourth quarter. Project design and planning of the facility are being conducted in parallel. “The Innovation Fund’s decision shows that Project Air is an important future investment for the climate,” said Perstorp’s president and CEO, Jan Secher.

Perstorp believes its collaboration with Finnish and German energy utilities (Fortum is a major shareholder in Uniper) will be a game changer for the chemical industry as it will help convert the input base methanol from fossil raw materials to recycled and bio-based feedstock, thus enabling the supply of more sustainable chemical products to a variety of customer industries.

Project Air is based on innovative usage of existing technology in a large-scale industrial application, the chemical producer said. To produce sustainable methanol, the facility will utilize “significant” amounts of CO₂ and other residue streams recovered from the chemical company’s ongoing operations, biogas from new dedicated plants and with hydrogen from a new large electrolysis plant.

In another step to facilitate sustainability, existing wastewater treatment will be utilized as feed water for the electrolysis, Perstorp said. All electrical energy for the combined project will be based on renewables.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist