Breakthrough Electrocatalyst Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Ethanol
13th September 2020
A research team led by scientists from Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Northern Illinois University has discovered a new electrocatalyst that can consistently convert carbon dioxide and water into ethanol with very high energy efficiency and low cost.
Because carbon dioxide is a stable molecule, transforming it into a different molecule is normally energy intensive and costly.
But the new process can electrochemically convert the carbon dioxide emitted from industrial processes—such as fossil fuel or alcohol fermentation plants—into a valuable commodity at reasonable cost. Ethanol is an ingredient in nearly all U.S. gasoline and is widely used as an intermediate product in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries.
Unfortunately for the Greenies, alcohol isn’t as energy-dense as gasoline. But they keep trying.