Fossil fuels are the backbone of the global petrochemicals industry, which provides the world’s growing population with fuels, plastics, clothing, fertilizers and more.
Fossil fuels are the backbone of the global petrochemicals industry, which provides the world’s growing population with fuels, plastics, clothing, fertilizers and more. A new research paper, published today in Science, charts a course for how an alternative technology — renewable electrosynthesis — could usher in a more sustainable chemical industry, and ultimately enable us to leave much more oil and gas in the ground.
Phil De Luna (MSE PhD 1T9) is the paper’s lead author. His research at U of T Engineering involved designing and testing catalysts for electrosynthesis, and last November he was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list of innovators in the category of Energy. He and his supervisor Professor Ted Sargent (ECE) collaborated on the paper with an international team of researchers from Stanford University and TOTAL American Services, Inc.
Writer Tyler Irving sat down with De Luna to learn more about how renewable electrosynthesis could take the “petro” out of petrochemicals.
Can you describe the challenge you’re trying to solve?
Our society is addicted to fossil fuels — they’re in everything from the plastics in your phone to the synthetic fibres in your clothes. A growing world population and rising standards of living are driving demand higher every year.
Read more at University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Image: U of T Engineering's Phil De Luna (MSE PhD 1T9) is the lead author of an article in Science that analyzes how green electricity and carbon capture could displace fossil fuels in the production of everything from fertilizer to textiles. (Credit: Tyler Irving, U of T Engineering)
