CO₂ Electrolyzer Nears Commercialization

In a bid to reduce industry’s carbon footprint, 3Mand start-up company Dioxide Materials have teamed up to develop a CO₂ electrolyzer. Rather than allowing CO₂ to be released into the air or pumped underground, the electrolyzer converts the greenhouse gas into feedstocks that can be used to make fuels and higher-value chemicals. 3M’s Tyler Matthews described how the team has built several working prototypes of the electrolyzer for reducing CO₂ to CO or formic acid using solar or wind energy. Researchers have previously found electrolytic CO₂ reduction uneconomical because the selectivity and energy efficiency of the process were modest. Scientists led by Dioxide Materials founder Richard I. Masel identified a silver imidazolium cocatalyst system that decreases the CO₂ reduction energy barrier and raises CO selectivity. They also developed a proprietary anionic electrolyte membrane for the new electrolyzer. Matthews reported that the team has achieved up to 99% CO₂ conversion and pushed energy efficiency to more than 80%. The team, funded in part by the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, is now conducting long-term performance studies and expects to start pilot-plant studies next year.