Subsidy schemes will open this autumn for green chemistry R&D

This autumn, NWO is expected to open three subsidy schemes for GroenvermogenNL, with the focus on making industrial chemical processes greener and more circular. The R&D grants seek to answer the questions: What are promising innovations and improvement opportunities for carbon- and nitrogen-based chemistry technologies? How can companies make specialty chemicals with less energy, CO2 emissions and fossil-based inputs? These R&D work packages based on green chemistry can be seen as the next phase of GroenvermogenNL’s R&D program, in addition to the existing consortia that are already involved in the production, transport, storage and use and system aspects of green hydrogen. 

GroenvermogenNL wants to accelerate the use of green hydrogen in industry and the economy as a solution to help achieve the energy transition. The chemical industry plays an important role in this. First and foremost, because of the great economic importance of the sector in The Netherlands. The sector can make an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by opting for green chemistry and green electrons.

Contents of subsidy schemes

GroenvermogenNL wants to promote a clean and circular chemical industry with three subsidy schemes through NWO. We do this by using green hydrogen and green electrons for:

• Carbon-based chemistry: How can companies replace fossil sources such as oil and natural gas using carbon-neutral hydrogen and green electrons? This can be done, for example, by using carbon-neutral hydrogen as a raw material to produce fuels and platform chemicals from CO2, by using green electrons directly to heat chemical conversion processes at high temperatures or by converting CO2 and CO into chemicals via innovative electro- or plasma chemical conversion processes.
  The subsidy budget for this scheme is €35 million.
• Nitrogen-based chemistry: how can companies reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the production of ammonia and other (bulk) nitrogen-containing molecules? This concerns both the obvious use of green hydrogen in the Haber-Bosch process and the development of new advanced technologies. This is an important issue in the energy transition, because hydrogen production for ammonia production uses 1.5% of the total world energy and contributes up to 7% of total Dutch CO2 emissions.
  The subsidy budget for this scheme is €20 million.
• Special chemicals: from packaging materials, paint and coatings to pharmaceuticals, food and agriculture; the Dutch chemical industry produces a wide variety of chemical semi-finished products and specialties. This production is dependent on petrochemicals and chemical transformations, which leads to a lot of waste and energy consumption. How can we produce these chemical building blocks more sustainably with carbon-neutral hydrogen, renewable raw materials, direct use of green electrons and the development of new chemical transformations?
  The subsidy budget for this scheme is €20 million.

For companies and knowledge institutions

Are you a company or knowledge institution active in this field? And do you want to actively contribute to a sustainable, circular future with green hydrogen? Then we would like to invite you to participate in one or more subsidy schemes of our R&D program.

One consortium, one project plan

We ask interested parties to work together on one project plan per subsidy scheme. Therefore, in GroenvermogenNL subsidies there is no competition between different applications. The parties will take part in two workshops of 2.5 days each in advance. They form a consortium and develop one joint project plan. The subsidy schemes and consortium formation are implemented by NWO.

Schedule

The provisional planning is as follows:
Carbon-based chemistry 
information session in October 2024
workshops in winter 2024/25
Nitrogen-based chemistry 
information session in November 2024
workshops in spring 2025
Special applications 
information session in November 2024
workshops in spring 2025

More information

Do you want to stay informed about the subsidy schemes? Subscribe to the GroenvermogenNL newsletter. Or ask a question to:
• Maryam Alimoradi Jazi for the scheme for carbon-based chemistry: m.alimoradijazi@groenvermogennl.org
• Jane Butler for the arrangements for nitrogen-based chemistry and specialty chemicals: j.butler@groenvermogennl.org

GroenvermogenNL: Accelerating the use of green hydrogen

GroenvermogenNL is a program of the National Growth Fund. It aims to stimulate and accelerate the use of green hydrogen in Dutch industry by focusing on R&D, pilot projects, demonstrations and the Human Capital Agenda. A budget totaling €838 million has been reserved for this up to and including 2030.