From Greenhouse Gas to Fuel

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A growing number of scientists are looking for fast, cost-effective ways to convert carbon dioxide gas into valuable chemicals and fuels.

A growing number of scientists are looking for fast, cost-effective ways to convert carbon dioxide gas into valuable chemicals and fuels.

Now, an international team of researchers has revealed a new approach that utilizes a series of catalytic reactions to electrochemically reduce carbon dioxide to methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, eliminating an intermediate step usually needed in the reduction process.

“We want to supply renewable electricity and take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to something else in one step,” said Bingjun Xu , a University of Delaware assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. “This is a key contribution to this vision.”

The team’s results were published in the journal Nature Communications on July 26, 2019. Two of the study authors are based at UD: Xu and postdoctoral associate Xiaoxia Chang. Another study author, Qi Lu of Tsinghua University in China, was formerly a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UD.

Read more at University of Delaware

Image: From left to right: Former UD postdoctoral associate Qi Lu, current assistant professor Bingjun Xu, and current postdoctoral associate Xiaoxia Chang recently revealed a new approach that utilizes a series of catalytic reactions to electrochemically reduce carbon dioxide to methane. (Credit: Joy Smoker)