CO2 Electro-Catalysis

Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases which increase global temperatures. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that if the global average temperature is not limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the world will face catastrophic climate change consequences such as extreme heat, floods, and wildfires. The UK was the first major economy to create a target to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. One of the UK Net Zero Strategy targets is industrial decarbonisation. By 2050 emissions from UK industry need to fall by at least 90% with all remaining emissions offset by greenhouse gas removals (GGR). Therefore, by 2030 UK expects decarbonisation technologies to be commercially available. Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies are projected to be key in the UK’s net zero goal. These technologies not only remove the CO2 gas from industries, but also converts them into value-added products such as ethylene, making these systems industrially attractive. The current CU technologies lack selectivity and stability, which makes them industrially unviable. This project proposes the fabrication of a long-term stable system, instead of the traditional gas-fed designs.