Plasma: a Tool to Electrify Our Chemical Industries
In this seminar, Professor PJ Cullen will introduce PlasmaLeap Technologies, a company developing modular chemical plants powered by renewable electricity.
Achieving net zero emissions is one of the defining challenges of our time, requiring new approaches to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries such as chemical manufacturing. Fertilisers, fuels and industrial chemicals remain essential, but are highly emissions-intensive to manufacture.
Originating from research at the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, PlasmaLeap’s technology energises gases to generate reactive species from abundant resources including air, water, methane and carbon dioxide, enabling new green electrified chemical pathways.
PJ will describe PlasmaLeap’s journey from lab-based plasma research to a globally backed commercial technology, highlighting applications in decentralised nitrogen fertiliser production, sustainable fuels and critical-mineral processing. He will examine the potential to disrupt the current heavily centralised production market and the vulnerability of current supply chains.
PlasmaLeap’s technology can be integrated within electrical grids as a flexible Power-to-X load. By responding rapidly to electricity availability, distributed chemical plants could reduce curtailment, support grid stability and strengthen sovereign chemical supply chains.
