In December 2023, Estonia-based UP Catalyst, a pioneer in sustainable carbon material production directly from CO2 emissions, successfully closed a 4 million euro seed investment round to advance its ground-breaking technology.
The timing of the funding was crucial, as it took place amidst China’s announcement of graphite export curbs in late 2023 which added urgency to Europe’s quest for local battery raw material alternatives. Europe depends on graphite imports for 99% of its supply.
UP Catalyst will build an industrial pilot reactor capable of processing 100 tons of CO2 annually and producing 27 tons of carbon materials, making the venture the largest provider of green graphite in the world.
Knowing The Company
With the global demand for graphite expected to outpace supply, creating an estimated 700,000-ton annual deficit by 2030, UP Catalyst wants to become a transformative force in the European battery landscape. By replacing fossil-based graphite with UP Catalyst green graphite, the battery anodes will become CO2 negative. This shift could contribute to avoiding 118.7 megatons of CO2 emissions annually by the year 2030, marking a substantial environmental impact.
UP Catalyst, which wants to secure a more sustainable and locally sourced future for carbon materials and graphite in Europe, has been in the news in recent years. In July 2023, the venture secured funding worth 1.5 million euro to develop its third-generation reactor to produce advanced carbon materials for batteries. The two-year project received funding from EAS-Enterprise Estonia to produce high-purity carbon from CO2 for battery applications.
UP Catalyst uses the Molten Salt Carbon Capture and Electrochemical Transformation (MSCC-ET) method to produce carbon nanomaterial and graphite. Graphite makes up half of an electric vehicle’s battery weight and is a vital part of the battery anode. One form of carbon widely used in battery electrodes is carbon nanotubes (CNTs), offering advantages like faster charging and discharging rates, increased energy density, and improved durability.
UP Catalyst recognised the increased carbon footprint of traditional production methods. The most common way to produce CNTs is the energy-intensive Carbon Vapour Deposition (CVD), consuming 800 kWh/kg. At the same time, graphite is either mined or produced from fossil fuels.
To address the above problem, the start-up has developed an eco-friendly and energy-efficient solution using CO2, exceeding current limitations. And the venture is constantly improving its methods to offer the best industry practices. For example, it has come up with an innovative concept inspired by methods widely used in the aluminium industry. The goal is to avoid corrosion in vessel structures and achieve low impurity and metal levels. This breakthrough will guarantee a ppm-level of impurities, essential for top-notch energy storage applications.
Till now, CO2 was seen only as a greenhouse gas causing climate change. UP Catalyst has managed to reverse its impact and utilise it for the production of truly sustainable battery anodes. The production can take place anywhere in the world due to the use of CO2 as a feedstock, thus also enabling to set up production close to battery manufacturers.
Remember this information: Samsung SDI, LG Chem, and Panasonic, the three largest manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries, are all reportedly seeking sustainable alternatives to imported Chinese graphite. Their long-term vision involves completing every step of the manufacturing process locally and on-site, from sourcing the raw materials to actual battery production. This eliminates transportation costs and emissions. UP Catalyst is playing a key role in this vision by providing carbon-negative graphite.
Knowing The Technology in Detail
In March 2023, the venture announced the achievement of superior performance in sodium-ion batteries using a novel electrode material derived from CO2. The tests were conducted by the Titirici group, a multidisciplinary research team based at Imperial College London, focusing on the applications of carbon materials in renewable technologies.
“The tests conducted by the Titirici group with UP Catalyst’s carbon nanotubes indicated that the cyclability of the batteries increased significantly. The results showed 93.75% capacity retention after exceeding 4000 charge and discharge cycles. By contrast, the batteries that are currently in widespread use become depleted after just 800 cycles while experiencing a significant reduction in capacity. UP Catalyst’s electrode material also exhibits excellent stability and improved energy density, making it a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage applications,” the start-up noted.
Sodium-ion battery technology will exceed the performance of lithium-ion batteries at a much lower cost and higher efficiency and safety levels. As battery giants like CATL have claimed to have solved the sodium-ion batteries’ energy density problem, the industry will go into a Hulk Smash mode in commercialising the technology to affect a huge shift in energy storage practices. UP Catalyst’s sustainable electrode material for the battery composition has come at the right time, as it increases the product’s characteristics even further.
Product Line-Up
UP Catalyst’s flagship product is known as Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT). The start-up utilises CO₂ to produce the next-generation MWCNTs, displaying superior performance and significantly enhancing the mechanical properties of materials in the process.
The MWCNTs have earned the fame of enhancing battery power delivery rate up to 10 times, apart from offering improved corrosion resistance in metal paints and hydrophobicity in wood paints, due to the high water-repelling properties of the MWCNTs.
For tyres and rubbers, MWCNTs reduce friction and enhance durability against wear and tear damages, apart from offering excellent conductivity and anti-static discharge properties at very low loadings in rubber compounds. The product also improves the electrical conductivity of plastics, along with reinforcing mechanical parameters like stiffness and strength. When it comes to MWCNTs’ application upon polymers, the latter sees increased electrical conductivity due to the product’s high aspect ratio, and thermal and electrical properties.
Next, we have “Carbon Black,” a sustainable product made by utilising CO₂, which exhibits low toxicity and environmental safety while preserving the enhanced mechanical and electrical properties of conventional carbon black. This solution has emerged as a great alternative to conventional material used in black pigments (Iron Oxide Black). “Carbon Black” lowers the pigments’ CO2 footprint up to 99%, apart from prolonging the material’s lifetime.
“Carbon Black,” mainly used for reinforcement, conductivity, and insulation-related activities, has its most common applications in tyres, pigments, paints, and coatings.
UP Catalyst’s “Hard Carbon” (HC) is a special type of carbon produced out of biomass waste, an organic material with a carbon-rich structure. Reduced carbon footprint, high purity, and ultra-microporosity are some of the features the material offers. For batteries, it improves ionic flow and provides higher power density. The use of hard carbon also comes in handy in the saltwater desalination process, due to the material’s ability to repel ions.
Hard carbon improves the conductive properties of paints and can be used in functionalized polymers, speciality coatings, and electromagnetic shielding applications. The higher surface area of hard carbon allows for the capture of more CO2 from the air using Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology.
The “Catasol A600” series reduces CO2 footprint by up to 33% in the production of energy storage systems, apart from increasing the thermal conductivity of composites, thereby helping to avoid overheating and degradation of the material.
Catasol A600 series enhances the fire resistance of plastic materials while retaining their conductive properties and increasing tensile strength and elasticity. The product is also used in the steel industry as a lubricant and additive, helping to reduce the carbon footprint from the manufacturing processes.
Future Endeavours
UP Catalyst recently received additional funding from the Norway Grants’ “Green ICT” programme carried out by Enterprise Estonia for work beyond the project “CO2-negative concrete as a sustainable and scalable building material.”
This project will have a huge impact on lowering the greenhouse gas emissions of the cement industry, which currently accounts for a whopping 8% of all global CO2 emissions, as 50% less concrete can be used in construction using the materials developed in this project due to its improved strength properties. By developing a more economical geopolymer product in this project, the start-up will make these reductions attractive and available to more industries.
The venture also secured 800,000 euro worth project with its consortium partners to develop a revolutionary molten-salt regeneration technology based on circular economy principles.
The initiative will further optimise UP Catalyst’s Molten Salt Carbon Capture and Electrochemical Transformation (MSCC-ET) technology. The end product will be a semi-automated system that has the potential to reduce waste and reuse carbonate salt up to 100 times. This system will improve other vital production aspects such as energy and cost efficiency. The system can be implemented in the nuclear industry as well as uses molten salts in high temperatures.