Objectives

Capturing CO₂

Taking advantage of the expertise of different DefiCO2 research teams, we want to develop innovative concepts based on the CO₂ adsorption properties of nanoporous materials and aqueous foams, and on bioinspired approaches with the use of carbonic anhydrase mimics. A further step will be accomplished by combining these assemblies with catalytic CO₂ conversion systems to produce demonstration prototypes capable of producing fuels or commodity chemicals.

Transforming CO₂

Grenoble is recognized as a national and international leader in the field of bio-inspired chemistry, in particular for the development of catalysts and metal-based molecular materials designed to reduce CO₂ by photo- or electrochemical processes. DefiCO2 thus proposes to design and optimize catalytic systems with low energy costs, high selectivity, and low environmental impact. In addition, we aim to overcome scientific and technological bottlenecks in the scale-up of the most mature technologies for CO₂ utilization developed in "Université Grenoble Alpes" (UGA) laboratories to produce demonstration prototypes.

Evaluating the environmental impact

The project aims to develop technologies that would capture atmospheric CO₂, but it is essential to verify that the life cycle encompassing these technologies actually imply a reduction in CO₂ concentrations! For example, if the manufacturing of the said technologies emits more greenhouse gases than they will capture − which can be verified thanks to a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) − this would mean that they are not efficient enough and should therefore be improved or discarded before their industrialization. An impact of this project for the Grenoble community will be to gain competence in this area, which will give us a competitive advantage in the necessary development of this type of technology.

Debating sociotechnical and economic visions

One of the main challenges of this multidisciplinary project is also to propose deliberation processes allowing to share of knowledge and uncertainties on the benefits and impacts of these technologies (integrated into complex socio-technical systems) and to involve the various parties concerned in the decisions of technological and industrial policies. The research will be able to highlight the difficulties and biases in these deliberation processes, in particular in the formulation of scenarios and the identification of economic and environmental impacts.