'Game changer' technology turns CO2 pollution 'into cash'
A new electrochemical system can turn carbon dioxide into a useful chemical - ethylene - which is used in everything from food packaging to car tyres.
The team describes the technology as a potential ‘game changer’, using a two-step cascade reaction to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and then into ethylene.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the new technologies that scientists hope will play an important role in tackling the climate crisis.
It involves the capture of CO2 from industry or power generation (or even from the air), and turning into useful products - or even fuel.
One of the study’s lead authors, Tianyu Zhang, led a similar study last year that examined ways to convert carbon dioxide into methane that could be used as rocket fuel for Martian exploration.
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The study was published in the journal Nature Catalysis.
Zhang said, "The significance of the two-stage conversion is that we can increase the ethylene selectivity and productivity at the same time with the low-cost strategy.
"This process can be applied to various reactions because the electrode structure is general and simple."
"We're selectively reducing carbon emissions into something considered valuable because of its many downstream applications.”
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Applications include a variety of industries from steel and cement plants to the oil and gas industry, he said.
"In the future, we can use this technique to reduce carbon emissions and make a profit from it. So, reducing carbon emissions will not be a costly process anymore," he said.
Ethylene has been called "the world's most important chemical."
It's used in a range of plastics from water bottles to PVC pipe, textiles and rubber found in tires and insulation.
Professor Wu said the chemical they produce is known as "green ethylene," because it is created from renewable sources.
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"Ideally we can remove greenhouse gas from the environment while simultaneously making fuels and chemicals," Wu said.
"Power plants and ethylene plants emit a lot of carbon dioxide. Our goal is to capture the carbon dioxide and convert it to ethylene using electrochemical conversion."
Wu last year applied for patents for their design.
Zhang said the system will take some time to become economical. But already they have made tremendous strides, he said.
"The technology has improved a lot in 10 years. So in the next 10 years, I'm optimistic we'll see similar advances. This is a game changer," Zhang said.
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