西方石油将合作建设碳制生物乙烯中试工厂

据ICIS网站4月6日休斯顿报道 西方石油公司的子公司西方石油低碳合资公司（OLCV）和生物技术公司Cemvita Factory计划建立一个生物乙烯试验工厂，用人造二氧化碳（CO2）生产单体。

该试验工厂的产能为1吨/月，利用二氧化碳、水和光生产生物乙烯，估计将于2022年启动。这些公司没有透露将在何处建造这座工厂。

这项技术与碳氢化合物生产的乙烯具有竞争力，尽管两家公司没有具体说明价格。

Cemvita公司首席技术官Tara Karimi表示，这一过程是通过从香蕉中提取一个基因，并通过基因工程将其植入Cemvita的微生物中开发。

OLCV技术副总裁Robert Zeller表示，如果成功，该项目将为西方石油提供另一种乙烯来源，用于生产聚氯乙烯（PVC）。

Cemvita表示，它的技术可以处理多种二氧化碳源，几乎不需要调整。在最初的试验阶段，它计划从当地的天然气供应商那里购买二氧化碳。

该公司表示，稍后将使用天然气燃烧产生的二氧化碳，可以利用直接从大气中捕获的二氧化碳。

OLCV本身也参与了美国的几个碳捕获与封存（CCS）项目。

王磊 摘译自 ICIS

原文如下：

US Occidental, biotech firm to build CO2-to-bioethylene pilot plant

A subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), and the biotechnology firm Cemvita Factory plan to build a bioethylene pilot plant that will produce the monomer from manmade carbon dioxide (CO2), the companies said on Tuesday.

The pilot plant will have a capacity of 1 tonne/month and produce bioethylene using CO2, water and light. It should start up in 2022. The companies did not say where it will build the plant.

The technology is competitive with ethylene produced from hydrocarbons, although the companies did not specify any prices.

The process was developed by taking a gene from a banana and genetically engineering it into Cemvita's microorganism, said Tara Karimi, chief technology officer of Cemvita.

If successful, the project could provide Occidental with another source of ethylene, which it uses to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC), said Robert Zeller, vice president of technology for OLCV.

Cemvita said its technology can work with a a variety of CO2 sources with little or no modification. For the initial pilot phase, it plans to buy CO2 from a local gas supplier.

Later it will use CO2 derived from burning natural gas, the company said. It could use CO2 captured directly from the atmosphere.

OLCV itself is involved in several carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the US.