$1.4 million industry cofunding)óat least 80% of which is
to be spent in Qatar. The goal is to bring together experts
in science, engineering, policy, trade, transportation, and
economics from Qatar and around the globe to find waysto feasibly upcycle CO 2 and mitigate its burden (upcycling
means transforming something into a more valuable
material than the original). The cluster currently boasts
22 local and 11 international investigators drawn from
various research institutions and commercial partners,
notes Bermudez, who is involved with its technical
assessment and management.Creating an economic advantage
CO 2 can be a valuable commodity in and of itselfóto
sell to the beverage and agricultural industries, for
exampleóas well as for feedstock to produce other
commodities. Yet less than 1% of anthropogenic CO 2 is
utilized by industry. Part of the reason for this is that ìto
date, capturing CO 2 is really expensive,î and the process
cannot compete today in the real market, Bermudez says.
Bermudez does not believe that ìthings will happen
just because they are the right thing to do; we need
to have some economic drivers and a business model
behind it,î she explains. Part of the answer is to incentivize
sustainable strategies so they become economically
viable.
Fortunately, the market itself is changing. ìWith the
upcoming carbon border tax, all the products that we
plan to import into our countries will be taxed depending
on their carbon footprint,î Bermudez points out, noting
that ìJapan has already instituted such a tax, Europe is on
the way, and the United States will be doing so very soon.î
Thus, the cost of releasing CO 2 into the atmosphere will
need to be figured into the overall cost of production.
One solution is to turn captured carbon directly into
value-added products instead of storing itóa principal
goal behind QEERIís CCU project. Treating carbon-Produced by the Science
BLUE HYDROGEN
ìCircular economyî isnít a new term, but it does seem to be
heard much more often these days, and for good reason. ìBlue
hydrogen energyîóenergy produced by a partially renewable
process, and with a lower environmental footprintóisnít new
either. Taking industrial waste and using it to produce something
of value is a goal to strive for.These are the bases of a collaboration between researchers at
Qatar Shell Research and Technology Centre and Konstantinos
Kakosimos, associate professor of chemical engineering at Texas
A&M University at Qatar. Supported by a grant from the Qatar
National Research Fund (QNRF), they are investigating using solar
energy to photochemically split wastewater, liberating hydrogen
that can be used for fuel. At the same time, they are making
use of one of the industrial byproducts of converting natural
gas to fuels and other chemicals, says Kakosimos. Typically,
water-splitting efforts involve pure water, which is a valuable
resource. By contrast, ìWeíre taking what was a waste stream that
costs money to treat and using it as a raw material to produce
something of added value,î explains Kakosimos.He sees this work as a compromise between the academic drive
for perfection regardless of the practicalities of implementation,
and the reality of industryís need for feasibility, which takes into
account cost and environmental footprint, for example.Qatarís national goal of sustainability is more attainable
because in Doha, all the critical intellectual componentsó
academic research, R&D, technology development, and industrial
partnersóare so close to each other. ìItís like an ecosystemî
that can foster both scholarly work and industrial collaboration,
Kakosimos points out.PHOTO: PROVIDED BY QATAR FOUNDATION1029Product.indd 513 10/21/21 7:28 AM