Doctoral themes 2023

Harvesting the potential in the transformation of CO₂

Supervisors

Ana Paula Ribeiro, apribeiro@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Marta M Alves, martamalves@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

M. Fátima Montemor, mfmontemor@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Registration Institution

Instituto Superior Técnico

Project description

There is amazing potential in the transformation of CO₂ towards the production of hydrocarbons, liquid fuels, chemicals and multicarbon products. In recent years, several regulations have been implemented in society, to control emissions of CO₂. Apart from regulations, CO₂ capture and storage (CCS), biological and chemical conversions are potential ways to stabilize and/or reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO₂. [1] In the present proposal, we intend to test 2 possibilities for the electrochemical reduction of CO₂. One is in an electrochemical membrane reactor (ecMR) based on two half-cells separated by a polymer electrolyte membrane. An electrical potential is applied as driving force for the reaction. The production of protons by the electrolysis of water take place at the anode catalyst. Depending on the metal(s) present in the anode, we can obtain different products. Another approach is to use metal foams, that can be covered with specific metals to increase reactions efficiency [2].

This proposal includes a 6-month internship in the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry, joint institute of the Spanish National Research council, in Madrid, Spain.

In this proposal, the sustainability of the processes will be done by green metrics calculations, using the appropriate commercial software.

The outcome of this research will gather SYNCat, MatSoft and SusChem thematic lines and support sustainable solutions for CO₂ capture, separation and valorisation. 

References: [1] She X. Wang Y. Xu H. Chi Edman Tsang S. Ping Lau S. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022; [2] Amir Hossein Behroozi, Rong Xu, Chem Catalysis, 3, 3100550, 2023

Keywords

CO₂

Fuels

Multicarbon products

Reduction