Technological projects portfolio

Today gas accounts for around 20% of energy consumption in France and 25% of energy consumption worldwide. Gas is almost entirely of fossil origin because methane from biomethanation plants is a very small minority (1.6% in 2022). In addition to the necessary acceleration of biomethanation, other processes are being developed to increase the share of renewable gases, such as methanation, which converts CO2 into methane using green hydrogen.

CYCLES achieves this reaction by activating CO2 with a plasma which then reacts with the hydrogen. The methane produced would have a much lower carbon footprint than that of fossil origin.

Whereas chemical reactions, for example the conversion of CO2 to CH4, use heat and catalysts to enable the reaction, cold plasmas provide just the right amount of energy to carry out that reaction.

This energy efficiency of cold plasmas is enhanced by the homogeneity in space of plasma discharges.

As a result, CYCLES enables optimized energy savings, while offering more flexibility of use by adapting the plasma reactors to the customer’s needs.

The end customers of the process are the industrial actors emitting high quantities of CO2: the cement industry, the sugar industry, refineries, ammonia or hydrogen production plants.

The methanation process would allow them to reduce the carbon tax while providing them with energy.

Against a backdrop of global warming and the reduction of greenhouse gases, manufacturers are looking to minimize their energy bills and their carbon footprint.