Chemists have created an innovative method to capture carbon dioxide and transform it into methane. This discovery indicates that future gas emissions could potentially be converted into a renewable energy source using electricity derived from eco-friendly resources.
Chemists have created an innovative method to capture carbon dioxide and transform it into methane. This discovery indicates that future gas emissions could potentially be converted into a renewable energy source using electricity derived from eco-friendly resources.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) contributes significantly to global warming and comes from power plants, factories, and various modes of transportation. Conventional carbon capture systems strive to reduce the amount of this gas in the atmosphere by separating CO2 from other gases and converting it into useful products. However, implementing this process on a large scale is challenging due to the substantial energy needed for these systems to function.
By utilizing a specialized nickel-based catalyst, researchers have found a way to conserve much of this valuable energy by directly converting captured carbon dioxide into methane, according to Tomaz Neves-Garcia, the primary author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry and biochemistry at The Ohio State University.
The researchers used nickel atoms placed on an electrically charged surface to directly change carbamate (the captured form of carbon dioxide) into methane. They discovered that nickel, an inexpensive and abundant catalyst, was highly effective in accomplishing this transformation.
“We are taking a molecule with low energy and turning it into a fuel with high energy,” Neves-Garcia explained. “What is particularly intriguing is that while others typically capture, recover, and then convert carbon dioxide in several steps, we streamline the process and do it all at once, which saves energy.”
Streamlining the carbon capture operation is crucial as it alters scientists’ understanding of the carbon cycle and is essential for developing more advanced and effective climate mitigation technologies.
“We should aim to use the least amount of energy possible for carbon capture and conversion,” Neves-Garcia noted. “Rather than executing capture and conversion as separate steps, we can merge them, avoiding unnecessary energy expenditures.”
The findings were recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Despite many carbon capture techniques still being in their infancy, researchers from various disciplines are actively working to enhance these methods, making the field quite promising, according to Neves-Garcia.
Transforming CO2 into fuel using renewable electricity could complete the carbon cycle. For instance, when methane is burned for energy, it releases carbon dioxide, which could be captured again and converted back into methane, creating a sustainable cycle of energy production that doesn’t contribute to global warming.
This study also marks the first instance where researchers utilized electrochemistry to convert carbamate into methane. While numerous attempts have been made to transform captured CO2 into valuable products, previous efforts typically only produced carbon monoxide.
“Methane is a fascinating product, but importantly, this opens doors to create further processes for converting captured CO2 into other useful substances,” he said.
Looking ahead, the team plans to continue investigating other clean chemical energy options to promote a range of sustainable carbon capture solutions.
“The focus is always on energy, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm and dedication aimed at advancing this field to conserve more of it,” Neves-Garcia added.
Other contributors to the study include Quansong Zhu and L. Robert Baker from Ohio State, Liane M. Rossi from the University of Sao Paulo, Mahmudul Hasan and Robert E. Warburton from Case Western Reserve University, Jing Li and Hailiang Wang from Yale University, along with Zhan Jiang and Yongye Liang from the Southern University of Science and Technology.
