Carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of global warming but it can be transformed into a resource: recovering carbon from the CO₂ molecule it can be recycled and reused to obtain fuels, synthetic materials, fertilizers and products for animal or personal care.

This process involves the use of hydrogen, obtained through processes powered by renewable energy, to extract carbon from carbon dioxide and the CO₂ Circle Lab - CCL of Italian Institute of Technology and Politecnico di Torino will provide technological equipment useful for this process of recovery, collection and reuse.

The emerging CCL will be a research hub between IIT and Politecnico to give an answer to carbon dioxide emissions, thinking in terms of circular economy and environmental sustainability. The center will be designed with offices divided between the Politecnico di Torino, Energy Center and Environment Park to "enhance the sectoral expertise also in a multidisciplinary perspective and strengthen collaborations with strategic partners such as IIT and Environment Park to create a solid system of integrated research in our territory", as stated by the Dean of the Politecnico Guido Saracco..

Main services

• Capture of CO₂: capture of CO₂ from industrial waste mixtures, or from mixtures of biological origin (biogas, syngas).
• Reuse of CO₂: re-use of CO₂ according to electrochemical, thermochemical, biological/biochemical paradigms, powered by renewable energy, related to the primary role of the Hydrogen chain.
• Energy storage: energy storage related to CO₂ (power-to-X paradigms) and to the electrochemical module sector (batteries and supercapacitors).

Equipment

• Capture of CO₂: CO₂recovery benches for absorption, permeation and chemical looping.
• Reuse of CO₂: benches for electrochemical (high and low temperature), thermo-catalytic, photo-catalytic, biological processes, also based on production/use of H₂.
• Energy storage: benches for "power-to-X" electro-thermo-chemical processes, cyclers/ARCs for batteries, hardware-to-loop power simulators, characterisation systems for supercapacitors.