Is CO2 recycling an emerging market?

A research project at the University of Louisville (UofL) in Kentucky is focusing on developing a method to sequester and convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into usable products. The project, which entails developing CO₂ catalysts, is being funded by the Catalysis Program of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The research has the potential to decrease CO₂ emissions by creating what UofL calls “a profitable pathway to convert this waste into marketable industrial chemicals such as solvents, alcohols, acids and polymer precursors.”

Critical to the research is the development of new catalyst materials using the principle of cooperativity to capture CO₂ and convert it to fuels and chemical products. The catalyst will employ an abundant metal, possibly zinc, within a supporting framework. “The catalyst works synergistically with an alloy electrode to generate higher value products,” states UofL.

“The technology from this research could be used to treat CO₂ from fossil fuel combustion directly at the source,” says UofL chemistry professor Craig Grapperhaus. “We may even be able to directly convert atmospheric carbon dioxide, too.”

Grapperhaus is leading the research, along with Joshua Spurgeon, theme leader for Solar Fuels at the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering at UofL.

“The thoughtful design of molecular catalysts such as these gives us the opportunity to achieve greater control over the products we make, which may ultimately make chemicals and fuels from CO₂ commercially viable,” says Spurgeon. “The Conn Center is excited to collaborate with the Department of Chemistry and NSF to develop these advances in green, sustainable chemistry.”

More than $320,000 over three years will be invested in the project, which UofL says will provide research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and high school students.