Danish tech company ready with a potential game changer in the green transition

While most of the world's heads of state are gathered in Dubai for the COP28 summit, the Danish technology company ESTECH is currently fine-tuning a world first that could be a potential game changer in the green transition.

As the first in the world, ESTECH has developed a patented technology, CAPPOW, which combines CO2 capture with Power-to-X to produce green hydrogen and biofuels from the captured CO2.

The technology is now so proven that in the coming months it will be ready for use in a near-full-scale plant at VandCenter Syd in Odense, which has just been commissioned. The goal is to sell the first plant during 2024.

"There are other plants that capture CO2 and there are plants that do Power-to-X, but there is no one else in the world that can combine the two processes in one and the same plant and with a technology that is commercially viable. Therefore, we have enormous expectations for CAPPOW, which we believe can become a key technology in the green transition," says Søren G. Larsen, CEO of ESTECH.

Largest plant in Denmark

Capture and storage of CO2 - also known as Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) - is often mentioned as a crucial tool for achieving the climate goals in both the Paris Agreement and the Danish government's 70% reduction target for 2030.

However, the necessary large-scale CCS plants to capture the required amounts are lacking, Søren G. Larsen points out. The CAPPOW technology can provide this - while utilizing the energy used to capture the CO2 to produce green hydrogen without the use of harmful chemicals.

The hydrogen can be used directly as biofuel for trucks and airplanes. And the CO2 residue is so clean that it can be sold to soft drink producers, for example, and converted into green fuel.

"The beauty of the CAPPOW technology is that it is so scalable that it can be used by both small businesses and large-scale industrial companies, biogas producers or large waste incineration plants. So whether you need to capture 600 kilos of CO2 per hour or six tons, it doesn't matter, because we can tailor the individual plant to the individual customer," explains Søren G. Larsen explains.

'We are going all-in'

The plant at VandCenter Syd is the replacement for a pilot plant that has been running for over two years and is the largest completed plant of its type in Denmark to date.

The plant is scheduled to run until April to test and validate the technology on a large scale. After that, an official inauguration of the plant is planned.

"It is both our ambition and expectation to have a fully commercial technology in the course of next year. We are going all-in on this technology, and we are doing so because we are convinced that we are dealing with a game changer for Danish business and for the green transition," says Søren G. Larsen.