PeroCycle has agreed to develop and test a two-tonne carbon recycling pilot reactor with Glass Futures at its St Helens facility in Merseyside, moving its perovskite catalyst technology beyond laboratory trials.
The University of Birmingham spin-out has signed a memorandum of understanding with the industrial research organisation covering catalyst scale-up and reactor testing throughout 2027. The programme will examine how the process performs under conditions more representative of energy-intensive manufacturing.
PeroCycle is developing a method of converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, a gas used as a chemical feedstock and reducing agent in some industrial processes. The proposed system uses a perovskite-based catalyst to support the conversion at lower temperatures than those associated with traditional methods.
The technology is intended to return the recovered carbon monoxide to industrial operations rather than allow all of the carbon dioxide to leave the process as waste gas. Steelmaking is one potential application, although neither partner has announced a commercial steel plant installation.
Conventional ironmaking depends on chemical reduction, in which oxygen is removed from iron oxides to produce iron. Carbon monoxide participates in that reaction and is converted to carbon dioxide as it removes oxygen from the ore.
Recycling a proportion of this carbon dioxide into usable carbon monoxide could reduce the requirement for fresh carbon inputs. Actual benefits will depend on conversion performance, the amount of gas available for recycling and the energy needed to operate the additional treatment system.
Successful laboratory chemistry does not establish that a reactor will remain stable in a manufacturing environment. Industrial gas streams can vary in composition, temperature and flow rate, and contaminants may affect the catalyst or the equipment handling the product gas.
Glass Futures will provide access to industrial research infrastructure, including the ability to supply different test gas conditions. The partners will examine how the reactor responds to these variations while assessing the scale-up of catalyst manufacture.
Grant Budge, chief executive officer of PeroCycle, said the next step was to “validate both the catalyst and the reactor in high temperature, industrial conditions”. He also identified Glass Futures’ materials blending and furnace facilities as resources for reviewing catalyst formulation and structure.
Perovskites are a family of materials defined by a characteristic crystal structure, with properties that can be modified through changes in composition. PeroCycle’s process relies on a proprietary perovskite catalyst, but the company has not disclosed the full formulation or detailed reactor operating conditions.
Material structure and composition affect the behaviour of catalysts under repeated heating and chemical exposure. A formulation that performs well during short laboratory trials must be evaluated for activity loss, physical changes and the practical demands of replacement or maintenance.
Increasing production of the catalyst introduces a separate manufacturing challenge. Larger batches must reproduce the material properties achieved during development, including composition and structure, if the reactor is to perform consistently.
The St Helens programme will therefore examine catalyst manufacturing alongside the reactor itself. The partners intend to establish processes that can move material production from laboratory quantities towards the requirements of a pilot installation.
Control of the incoming gas stream will be another important factor. Carbon dioxide conversion may be influenced by the availability of the relevant reactants, residence time, temperature and the condition of the catalyst. Plant integration must also account for how the output gas is handled and returned to a suitable process.
Carbon monoxide is toxic and flammable, so any industrial recycling arrangement requires suitable containment, gas monitoring and process safety measures. Those controls form part of the engineering challenge, independently of whether the reaction achieves its intended conversion performance.
PeroCycle has identified potential carbon emissions reductions of up to 90% in certain industrial applications. The figure is a development claim and has not been established through operation of the proposed two-tonne reactor.
A credible assessment of emissions performance would need to include the energy required by the recycling system and the carbon inputs it displaces. If the additional heat or electricity comes from an emissions-intensive source, it could reduce the net benefit achieved by recovering carbon monoxide.
The recovered gas must also meet the requirements of the process receiving it. Variations in composition or impurities may affect how a production unit operates, potentially requiring additional gas conditioning before the material can be reused.
The approach differs from systems that capture carbon dioxide for storage or transport. PeroCycle aims to convert it into another process input, creating a potential route for circulating carbon within an existing manufacturing operation rather than removing it permanently from industrial activity.
Its applicability will depend on whether the host plant can use the returned gas and whether the energy and operating costs of conversion compare favourably with alternative process arrangements. The technology may be more suitable for some chemical production systems than others.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham developed the underlying technology before PeroCycle was established to pursue commercial applications. The Glass Futures partnership is intended to generate evidence on catalyst consistency, reactor operation and integration under realistic industrial conditions.
Testing will continue throughout 2027. The results will determine how close the process is to a subsequent commercial demonstration, including whether its proposed reduction in fresh carbon inputs can be achieved at an acceptable operating cost and with reliable equipment performance.
