Have you wondered why we do not predominantly synthesize chemicals and fuels using electrochemical methods? Since there exist some very fundamental limitations to their deployment, we offer a simultaneous solution for all of them.

The opportunity and current limitations. Carbon-based bulk chemicals (e.g., ethanol, methanol, ethylene, syngas) could be synthesized by electrochemical conversion of CO₂ that utilizes low temperature and pressure modular reactors. Therefore, this process is perfectly suited to be paired with underutilized energy sources, e.g., surplus electricity from photovoltaic panels. Imagine a scenario where there is a lot of sunlight radiation in the middle of the day, but the demand for electricity is lower than the supply – in such case, we either need prohibitively expensive battery storage, or this energy is wasted. Hence, this surplus electricity is usually very cheap and is an important asset to utilize. The same scenario might apply to different energy sources, including nuclear.

Now, electrochemistry comes into play, as it can efficiently harvest this “low-hanging fruit” and convert surplus energy to value-added chemicals. However, some fundamental challenges are making the implementation of this technology challenging:

• Energy efficiency. Not all electricity is used for the electrochemical reaction of interest, and lots of it is dissipated as heat (which we do not aim to produce). Many experts agree this is the key limitation in the scale-up of electrochemical processes (also called Power-to-X). Inefficiently used electricity = higher cost.
• Need to pre-concentrate CO₂: electrochemical reactors typically operate with CO₂ of purity >95 vol%; while CO₂ is abundant, industrial processes emit it as a diluted stream, which might have, in the best case scenario, around 20-30 vol% CO₂. Therefore, electrochemical technologies must be paired with energy-intense (=costly) CO₂ separation.
• Need for integrated separations: due to the complex interfaces developed in electrochemical reactors, it is difficult to synthesize some products, such as liquid fuels, in a concentrated form, and the separation cost is again prohibitive for the large-scale application.

The solution. To solve these pressing challenges, we developed in our group a patent-pending electrochemical reactor with novel interfaces that allows us to drastically improve energy efficiency (from 30% to over 60% for products such as ethanol), using air directly – with no need for CO₂ separation. Our technology can also be adopted for flue gases and deals very well with typical flue gas contaminants.  We paired our electrochemical reactor with vacuum membrane distillation separation technology, which again integrates different interfaces to overcome fundamental water – ethanol separation limitations. As a result, we can solve the main limitations on electrochemical CO₂ conversion and leverage these underutilized, low-cost energy sources to produce chemicals and fuels directly from air, delivering products at a competitive price (e.g., ethanol at ca. $2/gallon).

Importantly, as our technology relies on air, water, and electricity only, it can be deployed anywhere where chemicals and fuels are needed or where underutilized energy sources are located.

Vision for technology development: We are currently demonstrating a lab-scale integrated process that operates under industry-relevant metrics and yields ethanol at a competitive price. In addition to research-support mechanisms, we are interested in partnering with different stakeholders and investors interested in amplifying our work’s impact and bringing this technology to the market.

Currently, we are focusing on ethanol, yet our team has performed preliminary work demonstrating that we can deliver a broad range of carbon and nitrogen-based products.

We aim to enable the sourcing of everything we need just from thin air.

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