Researchers aim to develop process to create chemicals from carbon dioxide

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology and the University of Stuttgart are aiming to use carbon dioxide as a raw material for the production of chemicals.

The researchers are developing a combined plasma and membrane process that splits CO2 into oxygen and the chemical base material carbon monoxide.

The process is made possible by the separation of oxygen using a new perovskite capillary membrane, which is CO2-stable and permeable for oxygen at 1000°C.

Dr Andreas Schulz, a scientist at the Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology at the University of Stuttgart, said: “If electrons excited in the plasma collide with CO2 molecules, this causes CO2 to decompose into carbon monoxide and oxygen.”

The process has the potential to help tackle the rising climate emergency, and can be used wherever CO2 is produced in an enriched form, such as combustion processes in power plants, in the cement and glass industries, and in breweries where CO2 is a by-product of alcoholic fermentation.

The use of CO2 as a raw material can therefore help to conserve natural resources and protect the climate.

The researchers are already looking for interested companies for the further development in a second finding phase and the subsequent technical implementation.