Turn2X has developed a novel, efficient reactor to produce green methane, which is also called renewable natural gas (RNG) because it uses renewable energy. The process combines carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) to produce RNG (methane, CH4) and water (H2O). Turning captured CO2 into RNG, which can be used as a source of energy again, allows for a circular industrial process and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere.

The technology, which was developed by Turn2X’s co-founder Dominik Schollenberg during his Ph.D. at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), is based on a novel design for the honeycomb reactor where the conversion takes place. The advantage of this design is that it reduces the number of reaction steps required from 5 to 2, which allows for considerable savings. It is estimated that the capital expenditure for such reactors is 30% lower than the current standard.

RNG is a viable solution for green energy storage and transport. It can be transported using existing infrastructure, such as the extensive European network of gas pipelines and liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals. RNG could also become a way to lessen Europe’s dependence on gas imports. In 2021, 40% of Europe’s natural gas came from Russia.

Dominik Schollenberg has already built an industrial-size demonstrator plant (capacity 4,000 MWh) with German oil and gas giant Uniper. It has successfully produced RNG and fed it into the German energy grid. Turn2X has acquired this plant and will soon move it to a site that offers cheap renewable energy. Subsequently, the plant will be considerably enlarged.

How can Turn2X’s technology help fight climate change?

The reason for climate change is that we burn too much fossil fuels. The question is how we can change that. Changing personal behaviors is difficult. We’re convinced that it is more promising to offer more sustainable alternatives to the fuels we’re currently using. Natural gas has a huge emission footprint today, and contributes 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions. That’s seven times more than the entire airline industry. Our technology is able to produce renewable natural gas from renewable sources such as solar and wind energy. The RNG we produce is drop-in ready and can be used with existing infrastructure and burners, everywhere where fossil natural gas is used today, in industries and households.

What is special about your technology?

The core of the technology is based on a decade of research and development my co-founder Dominik did at KIT, at the same institute that developed the Haber-Bosch process, the industrial process to make fertilizers more than a century ago. The reactor where the conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen into RNG takes place has superior efficiency and is modular and scalable. It is perfectly adapted to work with intermittent electricity production from renewables, unlike the big reactors that have been built in the past that required a constant supply of energy.

What is the advantage of turning intermittent electricity into gas?

In Europe we have the problem that the big solar and wind parks are far away from the industrial centers that need electricity. Connecting new installations to the electricity grid can be a big challenge. In Spain, the waiting time for new installations is currently estimated at 10 years. That is extremely frustrating. There is also quite a resistance from the population against the construction of new electricity lines. At the same time, we have an incredibly dense gas pipeline network in Europe, more than 2 million kilometers in total. Turn2X provides a missing puzzle piece to make renewable energy easily transportable.

The problem is just that the production of renewable natural gas is still more expensive than just pumping fossil natural gas out of the ground.

That is true, but the costs of RNG are already on par with those of biomethane that is produced from biogas. Biomethane is an already established market worth 3 billion Euros annually. This is a clear sign that there is a willingness to pay a premium for sustainable gas already today. And that premium will diminish over time, as renewable energy gets cheaper. The cost degression for solar energy has been spectacular in the past and will continue in the future. At the same time, the prices for carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise. They hit 100 Euros per tonne this February for the first time. Taken together, these developments assure a very big market for Turn2X.

Turn2X has built and run a demonstrator plant that has already successfully produced RNG and fed it into a grid. So you’re ready to scale production now?

We are planning to move it to another location, we’re currently looking at sites in Norway and Spain. Our plants can be built anywhere where there is cheap and abundant renewable energy and a connection to the gas grid. At the same time, we’re working on scaling up the plant design to an industrial scale. A partner will then construct the second and third plants for us so that we can ship them to the next locations.

That sounds like you’ll bind an awful lot of capital for a startup.

Our plants can be operated profitably from day one. This makes them very interesting for infrastructure investors that are desperate to deploy capital into projects with green credentials and an attractive return.

You will also need to convince venture capital investors in the future to scale up Turn2X so that you can handle all of these projects. What are your arguments?

As a founder, you constantly need to convince people, be they potential clients, employees or investors. I always try to understand what goals people want to reach and what their values are that they hold high. Do they correspond to our goals and values? If yes, we need to translate what we can offer into a language they understand. With Verve Ventures, for example, we saw an alignment since Verve is a deep tech and climate investor. Climate tech is a topic that is very high on the agenda of many investors right now.

The fact that you successfully built up a startup and led it to an exit before surely helps.

It does, inasmuch as there are plenty of errors first-time founders make that they will not make a second time. I’ve learned how to build up a team and scale it, and how to establish a relentless focus on clients’ needs from the early days on, something we are also doing at Turn.

Why co-found another startup after a successful exit?

Because it is extremely rewarding. I don’t want to sugarcoat it, being a founder is a rollercoaster and you live plenty of different moments. But working in an early-stage startup with a small team is magical. And let’s not forget that with climate change, we face a momentous problem. We need a very large number of talents working on different solutions, fast. We need courageous people, founders and investors, that do not shy away from complicated and capital-intensive deep tech solutions to this formidable challenge. There is a lot of uncertainty, about regulation, technological and market issues, and what will work eventually. But at one point, we will need to tell our children if we tried everything we could or not. Since with Turn2X we tackle a domain that is responsible for almost 15% of emissions, the impact that we can have if we succeed is a big motivation for me.