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Electroreduction of CO2 in coupled tandem electrolyzers is an enabling technology that can produce valuable chemicals, utilizing different reaction environments in each cell. Now, a kilowatt-scale tandem CO2 electrolysis stack has demonstrated that the selective conversion of CO2 to acetate can achieve competitive prices.
Tandem CO2 electrolysis has demonstrated strong potential for transforming captured CO2 into multicarbon products, but more effort is needed in scaling these systems to commercial levels. The authors address this crucial need by elevating tandem CO2 electrolysis to the kilowatt scale, marking a significant step toward real-world implementation.
Jennifer Curtis from the University of California Davis talks to Nature Chemical Engineering about her path into particle technology, work in computational simulations of multiphase particle flows and the importance of industrial collaborations in advancing the field.
Decarbonizing the steel industry is crucial but challenging. Now, an enzymatic method is introduced for converting carbon monoxide from industrial off-gases into formate, offering a path towards carbon-neutral steel production. The enzymatic process achieves high selectivity, and operation of a 10-liter-scale reactor with real industrial emissions indicates its scalability and practical applicability.
With the global climate crisis, approaches to capture emissions are critical, with the heavy industry sector being particularly challenging to decarbonize. The authors describe a new enzyme cascade for converting industrial emissions into formate salts as a hydrogen carrier or building block for chemicals.
Accurately modeling CO2 electroreduction is key to advancing the technology and understanding its productivity and CO2 utilization trends. Now, Marcus–Hush–Chidsey theory offers accurate predictions of experimental results, leading to further insights beyond reaction kinetics.
The design of CO2 electrolyzers is complicated by coupled transport and reaction phenomena. Here the authors develop a continuum model incorporating physical phenomena across multiple scales to predict the activity and selectivity of CO2 electrolysis, along with the loss of CO2 due to crossover in membrane electrode assemblies.
Transitioning to more sustainable chemicals will require the challenging replacement of fossil resources with renewable carbon and energy sources in their production. Now, integrating industrial sectors offers an interim solution to mitigate emissions in the chemical industry until technologies for closing the carbon loop can be deployed at scale.
Crystallization plays a pivotal role in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. This Comment briefly reflects on past achievements and emerging opportunities in industrial crystallization, particularly considering increasing molecular and system complexities.
Achieving a net-zero future requires that hard-to-abate sectors be addressed. Co-production offers an opportunity to mitigate chemical and steel sector emissions by extracting H2 and CO from steelmaking off-gas and using them for chemical syntheses. The authors examine carbon mitigation and costs of co-producing chemicals and steel in China.
Real-life plastic waste exists as complex mixtures, posing a challenge for efficient upcycling. Now a sunlight-powered thermocatalytic process using a Ni-based catalyst converts a plastic mixture into CH4, H2O and HCl. Notably, chlorine poisoning is minimized through temperature modulation driven by the diurnal sunlight cycle.
Electrification endows modern separation processes with the capability to tackle a broader array of challenges using potentially sustainable energy resources.