Carbon dioxide converted to ethylene—the 'rice of the industry'
Published Date: 12/2/2020
Source: phys.org
In recent times, electrochemical conversion (e-chemical) technology—which converts carbon dioxide to high-value-added compounds using renewable electricity—has gained research attention as a carbon capture utilization (CCU) technology. This green carbon resource technology employs electrochemical reactions using carbon dioxide and water as the only feedstock chemical to synthesize various compounds, instead of conventional fossil fuels. Electrochemical CO2 conversion can produce value-added and important molecules in the petrochemical industry such as carbon monoxide and ethylene. Ethylene, referred to as the 'rice of the industry,' is widely used to produce various chemical products and polymers, but it is more challenging to produce from electrochemical CO2 reduction. The lack of understanding of the reaction pathway by which carbon dioxide is converted to ethylene has limited development of high-performance catalyst systems and in advancing its application to produce more valuable chemicals.