David L.
Chandler | MIT News
Publication Date: November 13, 2024
"As the world struggles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, researchers are seeking practical, economical ways to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into useful products, such as transportation fuels, chemical feedstocks, or even building materials. But so far, such attempts have struggled to reach economic viability.
New research by engineers at MIT could lead to rapid improvements in a variety of electrochemical systems that are under development to convert carbon dioxide into a valuable commodity. The team developed a new design for the electrodes used in these systems, which increases the efficiency of the conversion process.
The findings are reported today in the journal Nature Communications, in a paper by MIT doctoral student Simon Rufer, professor of mechanical engineering Kripa Varanasi, and three others.
“The CO2
problem is a big challenge for our times, and we are using all kinds of levers
to solve and address this problem,” Varanasi says. It will be essential to find
practical ways of removing the gas, he says, either from sources such as power
plant emissions, or straight out of the air or the oceans. But then, once the
CO2 has been removed, it has to go somewhere....",
https://news.mit.edu/2024/mit-engineers-make-converting-co2-into-products-more-practical-1113,
last accessed on November 13, 2024.
Image: Courtesy of the researchers, edited by MIT News