Adani and Dioxycle Partner to Explore Low-Carbon Chemical Manufacturing in India

What happened:

Adani Enterprises has joined forces with French clean-tech firm, Dioxycle. It is done on a long-term basis to provide the Indian market with low-carbon chemical manufacturing solutions. The partnership will start with a pilot project to produce formic acid from captured carbon dioxide and renewable power.

The pilot facility will be established at an Adani Group site and technology will be scaled for commercial production if the pilot is successful.

Formic acid has a large market application as it is used widely in the industries such as the textile, agriculture, leather processing, manufacturing, etc. as a significant industrial chemical.

Why it matters:

Today, industries around the world are increasingly being pressured to cut their carbon footprint while sustaining their capacity to produce. A growing number of areas are gaining attention, one of which is carbon utilization, which seeks to convert caught up carbon dioxide into commercially useful products instead of into the atmosphere.

Adani-Dioxycle partnership is investigating the potential of carbon captured as an industry feedstock for chemicals. The project has the potential to be a model for the production of industrial chemicals from a different process, using raw materials other than conventional fossil fuels if it is successful.

The project is also an entry into Adani’s new business area of low carbon chemicals, in addition to its existing energy, infrastructure, logistics and renewable power businesses.

Industry context:

One of the areas with the most difficult task of achieving a reduction in carbon emissions is the chemical industry because it relies on feedstocks derived from fossil fuels and energy-intensive production methods. Government and industry efforts to decarbonize are driving adoption of technologies that have the potential to generate chemicals from renewable energy sources and CO2 capture. 

There are several pilot projects in different parts of the world which are being investigated, but the commercialization is in its early stages. Given the booming renewable energy generation capacity, manufacturing footprint and rising industrial demands in India, it is emerging as a potential hub for such technologies. Industrial groups and cleantech startups are increasingly forming collaborations to help commercialize new solutions for sustainability.

Adani and Dioxycle have stated they are open to other industrial chemicals that are applied in various industries like manufacturing, materials, packaging and energy. It’s part of a larger movement in which companies are pursuing goals beyond emissions reductions, such as developing economic value from carbon, which could provide new avenues for sustainable industrial growth.