According to the research, the new method has the potential to save significant amounts of energy. Chemists have developed an innovative method to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into methane; This raised the possibility of converting future gas emissions into an alternative fuel using renewable electricity.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to the warming of the Earth’s climate and is produced by power plants, factories and various types of transportation. Typical carbon capture systems, which aim to reduce its presence in the atmosphere, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by sequestering CO.₂ Separating it from other gases and converting them into useful products. However, this process is difficult to implement on an industrial scale due to the large amount of energy required to operate these systems.

An optimized approach with nickel catalysts

Tomaz Neves-Garcia, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in chemistry, said researchers have now found a way to save more of this valuable energy by converting captured carbon dioxide directly into methane, using a special nickel-based catalyst. and biochemistry from The Ohio State University.

Using nickel atoms placed on an electrified surface, the team was able to directly convert carbamate, a trapped form of carbon dioxide, into methane. They found that nickel atoms, a cheap and widely available catalyst, were quite successful in this transformation.

“We start from a low-energy molecule and make a high-energy fuel from it,” Neves-Garcia said. “What makes this so interesting is that others are gradually capturing, recovering and then converting carbon dioxide, and we are saving energy by doing these steps at the same time.”

Most importantly, optimizing the carbon capture process helps rethink what scientists know about the carbon cycle and represents a vital step towards creating more complex strategies for faster and more effective climate mitigation technologies.

“We should focus on using the least amount of energy to capture and convert carbon,” Neves-Garcia said. “So instead of doing all the capture and conversion steps independently, we can combine them in a single step, bypassing energy-wasting processes.”

The article was recently published Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Neves-Garcia said the field is promising, although many carbon capture techniques are still in their early stages and researchers from many fields are working to improve them.

Closing the carbon cycle using methane

CO conversion₂ Fueled by renewable electricity, it has the potential to close the carbon cycle. For example, when methane is burned for energy, carbon dioxide is released; If this carbon dioxide was captured and converted back into methane, it could lead to a continuous cycle of energy production without increasing the global warming burden on Earth.

This study is also the first in which researchers have discovered that they can use electrochemistry to convert carbamate to methane. Although many attempts have been made to convert captured CO₂ So far, most researchers for useful products have only demonstrated the ability to produce carbon monoxide.

“Methane could be a really interesting product, but the most important thing is that it paves the way for the development of new processes to convert captured CO2.₂ “We are also turning to other products,” he said.

The team hopes to continue exploring other alternatives to chemical clean energy to inspire a variety of sustainable carbon capture pathways going forward.

“Everything always comes back to energy, and there’s a lot of excitement and effort going into keeping the future of this field greater,” Neves-Garcia said. he said.