EXACT: Exsolved Self-Activating Catalysts for CO₂ Conversion into Sustainable Chemicals and Fuels

Project overview

Overview

Converting captured carbon dioxide into useful chemicals and synthetic fuels (HC) could help decarbonise aviation, shipping and heavy industry. The opportunity spans the approximately USD 6.7 billion CO₂-utilisation market, USD 948 million Fischer–Tropsch catalyst market, USD 202.1 billion e-fuels market and USD 950 million light-olefins market in 2026, with key segments growing by up to 19.2%.

Stakeholder engagement identified three main limitations of conventional catalysts. First, the active phase is difficult to identify and preserve. Catalysts often require demanding activation or rely on reaction conditions to generate the true active structure, increasing CAPEX, OPEX, start-up time and uncertainty over performance and lifetime. Second, nanoparticles deposited on a support are prone to agglomeration and sintering, causing rapid deactivation and frequent replacement. Third, kinetic limitations make one-step selectivity towards useful short- or long-chain hydrocarbons difficult, creating a substantial need for separation and recycling.

To address these challenges, we have developed oxide catalysts that self-activate under a CO₂ and hydrogen feed while producing olefins and paraffins, crucial fuels and chemical building blocks. The catalysts self-disassemble to form firmly anchored metal nanoparticles from within their structure, improving resistance to particle growth and carbon fouling and potentially extending catalyst lifetime and process efficiency.

Building on this proof of concept, the EXACT project will advance the technology towards industrial pilot application by demonstrating reproducible batch-to-batch performance, validating stability over hundreds of hours under realistic conditions, and extending the approach to a wider range of valuable chemicals and fuels.

Who started it

Funder

Innovate Surrey Ltd - HEIF Funding