Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The Feasibility of Direct CO2 Conversion Technologies on Impacting Mid-Century Climate Goals

Journal Article · · Joule

Recent IPCC modeling suggests that to limit global warming below 2 degrees C, "unprecedented" reductions in CO2 emissions will be required during the 2030-2050 time frame. The direct conversion of CO2 to fuels and chemicals using renewable electricity has garnered interest as one route to draw down emissions with the ability to synthesize products at a significantly lower carbon footprint than conventional methods. However, most direct CO2 conversion pathways are only in the early stages of development and face technical and market hurdles prior to scale-up, bringing into question what role they may play in influencing global CO2 emissions within this critical two-decade window. In this perspective, we highlight low-temperature electrolysis as a promising technology for direct CO2 conversion, including discussion on the products that could most impact global emission levels, and importantly, offer insight into the timeline, required advancements, and specific technical targets needed to successfully scale and deploy these technologies at the commercial level.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1996405
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5100-85389; MainId:86162; UUID:8678e0dd-90cf-4c10-bd73-5299ccb26f7b; MainAdminID:70286
Journal Information:
Joule, Vol. 7, Issue 8
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (46)

Electrifying the production of sustainable aviation fuel: the risks, economics, and environmental benefits of emerging pathways including CO2 journal January 2022
Decarbonization of the chemical industry through electrification: Barriers and opportunities journal January 2023
Transforming the carbon economy: challenges and opportunities in the convergence of low-cost electricity and reductive CO 2 utilization journal January 2020
Alcohol Production from Carbon Dioxide: Methanol as a Fuel and Chemical Feedstock journal January 2021
New perspectives for biotechnological applications of methanogens journal January 2022
Plasma Technology for CO2 Conversion: A Personal Perspective on Prospects and Gaps journal July 2020
Catalysis for solar-driven chemistry: The role of electrocatalysis journal June 2019
New insights into the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metallic copper surfaces journal January 2012
Enhancing acetate selectivity by coupling anodic oxidation to carbon monoxide electroreduction journal August 2022
Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Oxalic Acid: Experiments, Process Modeling, and Economics journal September 2022
Controllable Hydrocarbon Formation from the Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 over Cu Nanowire Arrays journal April 2016
Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to C2 hydrocarbons using different ex situ copper electrodeposits journal July 2013
Binary copper-bismuth catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2: Study on surface properties and catalytic activity journal October 2022
Purposely Designed Hierarchical Porous Electrodes for High Rate Microbial Electrosynthesis of Acetate from Carbon Dioxide journal January 2020
Thermophilic Moorella thermoautotrophica -immobilized cathode enhanced microbial electrosynthesis of acetate and formate from CO 2 journal October 2017
Electro-biocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to alcohols using gas diffusion electrode journal October 2018
Continuous long-term electricity-driven bioproduction of carboxylates and isopropanol from CO 2 with a mixed microbial community journal July 2017
A 20 L electrochemical continuous stirred-tank reactor for high rate microbial electrosynthesis of methane from CO2 journal January 2023
Long-term Operation of Microbial Electrosynthesis Systems Improves Acetate Production by Autotrophic Microbiomes journal May 2013
Carbon dioxide dissociation to carbon monoxide by non-thermal plasma journal December 2015
Formation of Methanol by Microwave-Plasma Reduction of CO2with H2O journal January 1996
CO2 Reduction to Higher Hydrocarbons by Plasma Discharge in Carbonated Water journal October 2021
Nonthermal Plasma‐Assisted CO2‐H2O Conversion over NiO and Co3O4 Supported on CeO2 journal April 2023
Plasma technology – a novel solution for CO 2 conversion? journal January 2017
Microbial electrosynthesis from CO2: forever a promise? journal April 2020
An industrial perspective on catalysts for low-temperature CO2 electrolysis journal January 2021
Nanomaterials for carbon dioxide conversion at industrial scale journal July 2022
The investment costs of electrolysis – A comparison of cost studies from the past 30 years journal January 2018
Review—Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction for CO Production: Comparison of Low- and High-Temperature Electrolysis Technologies journal January 2020
What Should We Make with CO2 and How Can We Make It? journal May 2018
What would it take for renewably powered electrosynthesis to displace petrochemical processes? journal April 2019
The economic outlook for converting CO 2 and electrons to molecules journal January 2021
General Techno-Economic Analysis of CO 2 Electrolysis Systems journal February 2018
CO 2 Electrolysis to CO and O 2 at High Selectivity, Stability and Efficiency Using Sustainion Membranes journal January 2018
Efficient electrically powered CO2-to-ethanol via suppression of deoxygenation journal May 2020
CO 2 electrolysis to multicarbon products at activities greater than 1 A cm −2 journal February 2020
In situ dual doping for constructing efficient CO2-to-methanol electrocatalysts journal April 2022
Surface Co‐Modification of Halide Anions and Potassium Cations Promotes High‐Rate CO2‐to‐Ethanol Electrosynthesis journal August 2022
A high-performance, durable and low-cost proton exchange membrane electrolyser with stainless steel components journal January 2022
Hierarchical micro/nanostructured silver hollow fiber boosts electroreduction of carbon dioxide journal June 2022
Investigation of CO 2 single-pass conversion in a flow electrolyzer journal January 2020
Improving the efficiency of CO2 electrolysis by using a bipolar membrane with a weak-acid cation exchange layer journal December 2020
Design of an Electrochemical Cell Making Syngas  (CO + H2)  from CO2 and H2O Reduction at Room Temperature journal January 2008
Power to gas: Technological overview, systems analysis and economic assessment for a case study in Germany journal April 2015
Jumping the technology s-curve journal June 1995
Climate change mitigation potential of carbon capture and utilization in the chemical industry journal May 2019