High-Efficiency Electrochemical Conversion of CO₂ to Ethylene

Technical Report · Thu Aug 31 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2278663· OSTI ID:2278663

Zhou, Xiao-Dong ^[1]; Wu, Jingjie ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA (United States); University of Cincinnati
2. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States)

During the past century, our civilization’s technological advances have been driven by the conversion of carbon-rich fossil fuels into electricity, heat, polymers, fertilizers, and other carbon-based products that are the foundation of modern society. It is now clear, however, that this carbon economy is no longer sustainable for humanity or our ecosystem. A study by the National Academies showed that to avoid catastrophic climate change, we not only need to dramatically and rapidly reduce global emissions of CO₂, but we will need to remove billions of tons of CO₂ from the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by mid-century. This presents a massive, unprecedented challenge to our species, but if managed well it also represents a historic opportunity: capture and utilization of CO₂ is arguably the largest economic opportunity of the next hundred years, also known as “industry of the future”.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
• DOE Contract Number: FE0031919
• OSTI ID: 2278663
• Report Number(s): DE--FE0031919
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
42 ENGINEERING
CO2 management
Electrochemical Conversion
Ethylene