Researchers at Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in November unveiled a method to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into ethanol, providing a solution to help in the fight with climate change and offering a sustainable raw material for chemical production.
Led by Professor Carsten Streb, the research team developed an electrode coated with cobalt and copper in precise quantities. The tandem system works by first using cobalt to break the strong bonds in CO2, producing carbon monoxide, which is then converted into ethanol by copper. "However, this only works if cobalt and copper are close to each other on the electrode," said Streb.
Currently, 80% of the starting material is turned into ethanol, which, according to the German university, is “the best result achieved in research to date”. The team is working to improve the yield of the process to 90%-95%.
The abundance of cobalt and copper on Earth is a key factor in their selection as catalysts for this process. While precious metals like platinum or palladium could also be used, their high costs make them commercially unviable.
The scientists expect that in the future, their electrocatalytic conversion process could enable sustainable production of ethanol using green electricity and carbon dioxide captured from power plants.
The research has been published in ACS Catalysis.
