A workforce of scientists led by Dr. Kee Younger Koo from the Hydrogen Analysis Division on the Korea Institute of Vitality Analysis (President Yi Chang-Keun, hereafter known as KIER) has created a world-leading catalyst able to remodeling carbon dioxide, a serious greenhouse gasoline, into a vital ingredient for producing eco-friendly fuels.
The reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) response is a chemical course of that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) by reacting it with hydrogen (H2) in a reactor. The ensuing carbon monoxide can then be mixed with hydrogen to make syngas, a elementary constructing block used to supply artificial fuels corresponding to e-fuels* and methanol. Due to its skill to recycle CO2 into usable gas parts, the RWGS response is seen as a promising pathway for advancing sustainable vitality manufacturing.
Overcoming the Limits of Standard Catalysts
Historically, the RWGS response operates greatest at temperatures above 800 °C. Nickel-based catalysts are sometimes used as a result of they’ll stand up to such warmth, however they lose efficiency over time as particles clump collectively, lowering floor space and effectivity. Working at decrease temperatures avoids this drawback, nevertheless it additionally results in the formation of undesirable byproducts corresponding to methane, reducing carbon monoxide output.
To make the method extra environment friendly and inexpensive, researchers have been looking for catalysts that stay extremely lively underneath low-temperature situations. The KIER workforce succeeded by creating a brand new copper-based catalyst that delivers excellent outcomes at simply 400 °C.
A Breakthrough in Copper Catalyst Design
The newly engineered copper-magnesium-iron blended oxide catalyst outperformed business copper catalysts, producing carbon monoxide 1.7 occasions quicker and with a 1.5 occasions increased yield at 400 °C.
Copper catalysts have a key benefit over nickel: they’ll selectively produce solely carbon monoxide at temperatures under 400 °C with out forming methane. Nonetheless, copper’s thermal stability usually weakens close to that temperature, resulting in particle agglomeration and lack of exercise.
To resolve this problem, Dr. Koo’s workforce integrated a layered double hydroxide (LDH) construction into their design. This layered construction incorporates skinny steel sheets with water molecules and anions between them. By adjusting the ratio and kind of steel ions, the researchers fine-tuned the catalyst’s bodily and chemical traits. Including iron and magnesium helped fill the gaps between copper particles, successfully stopping clumping and enhancing warmth resistance.
Actual-time infrared evaluation and response testing revealed why the brand new catalyst performs so properly. Standard copper catalysts convert CO2 into carbon monoxide via intermediate compounds known as formates. The brand new materials, nonetheless, bypasses these intermediates solely, changing CO2 instantly into CO on its floor. As a result of it avoids facet reactions that produce methane or different byproducts, the catalyst maintains excessive exercise even at a comparatively low temperature of 400 °C.
Document Efficiency and International Significance
At 400 °C, the catalyst achieved a carbon monoxide yield of 33.4% and a formation fee of 223.7 micromoles per gram of catalyst per second (μmol·gcat⁻¹·s⁻¹), sustaining stability for over 100 steady hours. These outcomes characterize a 1.7-fold increased formation fee and a 1.5-fold increased yield than customary copper catalysts. When in comparison with platinum-based catalysts, that are pricey however extremely lively, the brand new catalyst nonetheless outperformed them with a 2.2-fold quicker formation fee and a 1.8-fold increased yield. This locations it among the many top-performing CO2 conversion catalysts on the planet.
“The low-temperature CO2 hydrogenation catalyst expertise is a breakthrough achievement that permits the environment friendly manufacturing of carbon monoxide utilizing cheap and plentiful metals,” stated Dr. Kee Younger Koo, the venture’s lead researcher. “It may be instantly utilized to the manufacturing of key feedstocks for sustainable artificial fuels. Transferring ahead, we’ll proceed our analysis to increase its software to actual industrial settings, thereby contributing to the conclusion of carbon neutrality and the commercialization of sustainable artificial gas manufacturing applied sciences.”
Notes
* E-Fuels are artificial fuels produced by combining inexperienced hydrogen, generated with renewable electrical energy, and captured CO2 from the environment or sustainable biomass. They’re rising as a promising different to traditional fossil fuels, particularly for hard-to-decarbonize sectors corresponding to aviation and delivery.
The analysis findings had been printed on-line in Might 2025 in Utilized Catalysis B: Environmental and Vitality, a number one journal within the discipline of vitality and environmental catalysis. The research was supported by the KIER’s R&D venture, ‘Growth of e-SAF (sustainable aviation gas) manufacturing expertise from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
