Research database

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making up to 76% of the total emissions. CO2 available at industrial hotspots is treated as a waste. However, it is possible to create value from waste CO2 through its conversion to building blocks for commodity chemicals. The Global CO2 Initiative (GCI) estimates that CO2-based products (aggregates, fuels, concrete, methanol, polymers etc) could create a market opportunity of US$ 800 billion through converting 7 billion metric tons of CO2 by 2030. At present, carbon capture and conversion technologies are mostly applied independently from one another. In this proposal, we intend to develop an integrated electrochemical system for CO2 capture and conversion where the CO2 capture medium is the same electrolyte used for CO2 reduction. CO2 emitted from gas-fired power plants will be captured and converted to valuable products such as syngas, which can be used as feedstock for other commodity chemicals. We plan to develop low-cost and novel electrocatalysts dotted with high catalytic activity, improved selectivity and high faradaic efficiency towards syngas. Several amine-based capture solutions and selected ionic liquids (ILs) serving as capture medium electrolytes will be tested. Besides the advancement of research efforts in CO2 capture and conversion for sustainable reduction of CO2 released to the atmosphere, the successful completion of this project will result in a novel integrated electrochemical process for CO2 capture and conversion, reducing the costs related to the non-integrated technologies.

• Simelys Pris Hernandez Ribullen (Principal Investigator)
• Hilmar Del Carmen Guzman Medina (Component of the research team)

• POLITECNICO DI TORINO - AMMINISTRAZIONE CENTRALE
• QATAR UNIVERSITY - Coordinator