Methanol from CO2: dual-site nickel-cobalt catalyst

A team of scientists from Yale University, Oregon State University and The Ohio State University has reported a chemical process that produces methanol from carbon dioxide nearly 66% more efficiently than the next best approach, according to nsf.gov. The work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and published in Nature Nanotechnology. nsf.gov

The process uses a combination of nickel- and cobalt-based compounds as a catalyst on nanotubes. There, multiple chemical reactions and electricity convert CO2 to methanol. More of the CO2 is transformed into methanol, and the process consumes comparatively less electricity. nsf.gov

Dual-site electrocatalyst

Hailiang Wang at Yale, Robert Baker, a chemistry professor at Ohio State, and doctoral student Alvin Chang used a dual-site electrocatalyst. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions without being consumed; electrocatalysts do the same for electrochemical reactions. nsf.gov

Compared with the single-site version, the dual-site catalyst sped up methanol production while wasting less energy. It reached an electrochemical charge transfer efficiency of 50%. The single-site catalytic method is no more than 30% efficient. nsf.gov

Methanol as feedstock and fuel

Chang noted that methanol is a flexible chemical feedstock used for hundreds of common products, including plastics, chemicals and solvents. According to the source, better production methods could make it faster, cheaper and with less waste. nsf.gov

Methanol is also being explored as a low-cost fuel for generating electricity, powering ships and supplementing gasoline in automobiles. Besides CO2 from the atmosphere, the process could enable methanol production from agricultural and municipal waste, the source says. Baker said that steady access to such a renewable resource could transform many aspects of daily life, including the transportation sector. nsf.gov

Kenneth Moloy, a program director in the NSF Division of Chemistry, which supported the research, described it as an important advance toward more efficient methanol production through reduced power consumption and waste generation. nsf.gov

Yale, Oregon State and Ohio State teams make methanol from CO2 with a dual-site nickel-cobalt catalyst

Dual-site electrocatalyst

Methanol as feedstock and fuel

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