SE de Carburos Metálicos S.A.

Barcelona, Spain

The company, Sociedad Española de Carburos Metálicos S.A. with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, was founded in 1897. Its main activities are the production, marketing and supply of industrial gases (hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, etc.) and high purity gases, as well as the development of new technologies and equipment for their multiple applications in areas as diverse as energy, transportation, food, health, environment, industry, research, etc. Carburos Metálicos is the market leader in industrial and medical gases in Spain. Since 1995 it has been part of the international Air Products Group. Carburos Metálicos has been actively participating in developing new technologies internally and with several other companies and R&D institutions, including Spanish (e.g. CENIT BIOSOS, related to sustainable development of bio-refineries), and EU funded projects. One research interests is the conversion of residual biomass into energy. That is, the conversion of waste from food processing, paper, water treatment or synthesis of biofuels with a major content of biomass through thermochemical processes by using oxygen, processing with CO2 or pretreatments complementary to fermentation, among others. Some examples would be the gasification and combustion with enriched atmospheres of oxygen of black liquor and others types of waste, extraction with supercritical CO2 or the breakdown of structure in the production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic materials with oxygen, CO2 or ozone.