Power-to-X activities at Haldor Topsoe: our approach for electrification of the chemicals industry

Haldor Topsoe considers electrolysis and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) in particular an enabling technology for the electrification of the chemical industry. Here, we present status updates on our various stepping stone projects, CO2 electrolysis for CO production and H2O electrolysis for biogas upgrading, as well as the demonstration project for the electrification of ammonia production. Compared to other electrolysis technologies, SOEC allows for the conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals at very high efficiencies and at a faradaic yield of 100%. Haldor Topsoe is commercializing the CO2 electrolysis technology as eCOs™: a platform for on-site ondemand CO generation from CO2 feedstock for customers requiring a reliable and safe feed of carbon monoxide at a scale of up to thousands of Nm3 CO/h. The use of SOEC for the production of H2 is also interesting, not merely due to the inherently high conversion efficiencies that can be achieved, but also due to system-level synergies found in integrating the endothermal electrolysis process with an exothermal chemical synthesis process. The pilot plant for upgrading CO2 in biogas into pipeline quality synthetic natural gas (SNG), located at Foulum, Denmark, provides an example of such integration. Haldor Topsoe is a market leader in providing technological solutions and catalysts for the production of ammonia. Since 2000, Topsoe has commissioned >60 ammonia plants across the world with an accumulated capacity of almost 100 000 metric tonnes of NH3 per day. It is Haldor Topsoe’s ambition to become a technology provider for future fully electrified ammonia plants. A novel process is being developed where the nitrogen for the ammonia synthesis is provided by burning air between the SOEC stacks and utilizing steam generated in the Haber-Bosch loop as feedstock. This results in very efficient plant (71 % LHV efficiency) and eliminates investment in an air separation unit.