The continuing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a major driver of global warming and climate change with increased extreme weather events.
The continuing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a major driver of global warming and climate change with increased extreme weather events. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now presented a method for effectively converting carbon dioxide into ethanol, which is then available as a sustainable raw material for chemical applications. "We can remove the greenhouse gas CO₂ from the environment and reintroduce it into a sustainable carbon cycle," explained Professor Carsten Streb from the JGU Department of Chemistry. His research group has shown how carbon dioxide can be converted to ethanol by means of electrocatalysis. Assuming green electricity is used for this process, it would also be sustainable – and food crops currently used to produce ethanol for fuels would be available for food again. According to Carsten Streb, the conversion technique, which has so far been carried out on a laboratory scale, could also be realized on a larger scale. The research results have been published in ACS Catalysis.
Efficient Tandem System Achieves Selective Electrocatalytic Conversion
The electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to multicarbon products, such as ethanol, would be an ideal way to obtain high energy density fuels and valuable chemical raw materials, while at the same time using CO₂ as a precursor and thus removing it from the atmosphere to a certain extent. "To achieve this, we require suitable catalysts capable of this conversion with high selectivity so that we obtain a high yield of the desired product, which – in our case – is ethanol," said Streb.
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