Good News for Carbon Fuels

Researchers at Berkeley Lab may have found a way to convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals inexpensively and without producing harmful by-products. The process utilizes a traditional copper catalyst, but adds a new twist that makes the method product-specific.

Since the ’80s, copper has been used to synthesize a variety of carbon-based chemicals such as ethanol (for fuel), ethylene (for plastics) and propanol (an alcohol used in pharmaceutical manufacturing) through a process known as electrocatalysis. Electrons from the surface of the copper interact with carbon dioxide and water at “active sites” to produce a broad range of chemicals. However, the method was non-specific so there was no way to control what compounds were produced. Consequently, several additional steps were required to separate the unwanted residual chemicals from the desired end product.

What the scientists recently discovered is that these active sites are actually product-specific. Through the use of carbon isotopes, they were able to track which active sites produce which chemicals. The next step will be to determine whether they can drive specific active sites using electrons from solar cells to make the process selective and more efficient. If it works, it may one day lead to solar-powered oil refineries that can create useful products by pulling carbon dioxide out of the air.