In Estonia, UP Catalyst, a leading Estonian nanotechnology company, will, together with a consortium of industry experts develop a revolutionary molten- salt- regeneration technology based on circular- economy principles. The new system has the potential to, significantly reduce waste, and it allows the reuse of carbonate salt up to 100 times. The project, named MoReCCU, has received funding through EIT Manufacturing’s Open Call for Proposals, under the Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS). 

The idea for the project called MoReCCU, or Molten Salt Regeneration for Carbon Capture and utilization, was born from the need to maximise resource efficiency.  UP Catalyst reprocesses CO2 to produce carbon nanomaterials and graphite, using the electrolysis method with molten salt used as an electrolyte. Renowned experts from the industry and academia joined forces to optimise the technology of Molten Salt Carbon Capture and Electrochemical Transformation (MSCC-ET).

This helps to make carbon nanomaterials and graphite production directly from industrial exhaust CO2 net negative. The initiative received financial support of 560K€ € from EIT Manufacturing, Europe’s leading manufacturing community within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

During the project, a semi-automated system that circulates molten salt will be constructed by removing the electrolyte mixture’s impurities.  This results in both the preservation of the salt for reuse and an improvement in the quality of the carbon produced.