Some parts of the world have been so successful in making inexpensive renewable electricity that we occasionally have too much of it.
Some parts of the world have been so successful in making inexpensive renewable electricity that we occasionally have too much of it. One possible use for that low-cost energy: Converting carbon dioxide into fuel and other products using a device called a membrane-electrode assembly.
A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California Berkeley have developed a new approach to understanding this promising technology via physics modeling. The paper, which was recently published in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering, could help scientists learn how to improve membrane-electrode assembly efficiency.
Carbon dioxide can be transformed into valuable feedstocks such as carbon monoxide and ethylene, which manufacturers use to make products including chemicals and packaging. One way to do this is with membrane-electrode assemblies, which are devices that consist of two electrodes separated by a membrane. Also used in fuel cells that turn inputs like hydrogen into electricity, membrane-electrode assemblies hold promise for being able to use surplus renewable power to run reaction sequences that catalyze carbon dioxide into other chemicals. But these devices have problems with efficiency, and their workings are not yet fully understood.
Read more at: Berkeley Lab
Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a digital model to accelerate the optimization of membrane-electrode assemblies to convert CO2 to fuel and other products. (Photo Credit: Justin Bui, Francisco Galang and Samantha Trieu/Berkeley Lab)
