ELCAT

ELCAT
Applied Electrochemistry and Catalysis
ELCAT
Applied Electrochemistry and Catalysis

Integrated CO2 capture and electrochemical conversion: development of an electrocatalytic system.

May 2018 – April 2022
Climate change and global warming has become a growing threat to our world, where the carbon dioxide emisisons are believed to be a major contributor. In order to serve the society and environment, the Sustainable Chemistry department of VITO has been focusing since recent years on CO2 valorization, mainly on the development of conversion technologies. In the meantime, new insights in the techno-economic challenges within the value chain has led to the definition of new technological approaches, which also include CO2 capture and its integration with the conversion towards organic acids and alcohols and further downstream processing of the post-reaction mixture. In this PhD, the focus is on the development of an electrocatalytic reduction process based on VITO’s proprietary electrode systems incorporating an electrocatalyst. The study consists of screening and selection of appropriate electrocatalysts, their incorporation in porous elecrodes and demonstration of the optimal system.