The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has received a $1m grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into ethylene, one of the world’s most widely used chemicals.
Approximately 140 million metric tonnes of ethylene are produced annually worldwide. The technology being developed by the researchers produces the comical by breaking down CO2 with low pulses of electricity.
By comparison, steam cracking, the current method for producing ethylene, emits 200% more CO2 – meaning the research hold a potential environmental upside.
“Ethylene is an important chemical. But when you produce it at the industrial level, you also produce a lot of CO2,” said Dr. Xiao-Dong Zhou is executive director of UL Lafayette’s Institute for Materials Research and Innovation.
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