GLASS
Enabling a circular economy within factories
Not all sectors can be decarbonized through electrification, because their industrial processes release unavoidable CO2 emissions. To decarbonize these hard-to-abate industries, carbon capture is essential.
Take, for instance, glass making. There's currently no solution for decarbonizing glass using electrical heating — and when one exists, it will take decades to put into action. When sand and carbonate salts are melted to make the glass, CO2 is unavoidably released during the process.
Airovation’s innovative technology, however, captures carbon emission directly from the glass making point source — utilizing the company’s core innovation, the in-situ generation of Superoxide Radical, the most powerful oxidizer in nature. Carbon dioxide is then converted into valuable carbonates and bi-carbonates, and the minerals are used as raw materials in the glass production process. In doing this, Airovation enables a circular economy within factories by manufacturing the raw materials being used in the production process, out of the factory’s own emissions.
Airovation currently partners with Phoenicia, the sole glass manufacturer in Israel, to transform the country’s glass production process into a carbon-friendly operation. Under a Memorandum of Understanding between Airovation and Phoenicia, Airovation is running a two-phase scale up process which aims to produce the first fully commercial unit that will reduce the carbon footprint and secure Phoenicia’s supply chain and circular economy.
Airovation’s superoxide-based CO2 to mineral conversion technology creates high-purity carbonates and bicarbonates. The sale of these carbon negative, valuable end-products creates profitable carbon capture opportunities in various heavy industries. The core technology was tested and proven at the UL Laboratories in Chicago, on high-concentration CO2 streams.
Improved Mineralization
The key breakthrough is the in-situ generation of superoxide radical, the strongest oxidizer in nature. Polluted flue gas is passed directly from the smoke stack through a carbon capture reactor featuring Airovation’s superoxide technology and mineralized in real-time. The creation of high quality, industrial and food grade mineral byproducts opens exciting opportunities to create carbon capture, mineralization plants onsite of polluting factories. The kinetic advantages of the superoxide treatment process enables small footprint, low energy cost capture facilities that bring the total cost of capture to between $40/ton to actually profitable capture and utilization. The viability of this circular economic approach creates exciting opportunities for commercialization and scale of a leading emerging carbon capture technology.