Facile Carbon Fixation to Performic Acids by Water-Sealed Dielectric Barrier Discharge.

Mitsuo Kawasaki,Tatsuo Morita,Kunihide Tachibana

doi:10.1038/srep14737

Abstract

Carbon fixation refers to the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic materials, as commonly performed in nature through photosynthesis by plants and other autotrophic organisms. The creation of artificial carbon fixation processes is one of the greatest challenges for chemistry to solve the critical environmental issue concerning the reduction of CO2 emissions. We have developed an electricity-driven facile CO2 fixation process that yields performic acid, HCO2OH, from CO2 and water at neutral pH by dielectric barrier discharge with an input electric power conversion efficiency of currently 0.2−0.4%. This method offers a promising future technology for artificial carbon fixation on its own, and may also be scaled up in combination with e.g., the post-combustion CO2 capture and storage technology.

Highlights

We propose and demonstrate one promising, electricity-driven, facile CO2 fixation process that yields what we identify below as performic acid (PFA), HCO2OH, from CO2 and water by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)[10], which is elaborately designed to be operated in a water-sealed discharge gap with CO2 under atmospheric pressure; see Fig. 1 and Supplementary Fig. S1 online
CO2 gas enters the narrow space of discharge gap at a constant flow rate and escapes into water through a number of small through-holes arranged in a honeycomb structure in the upper metal (Al) electrode
The artificial carbon fixation technology has a large impact on the issue of global warming by the ever-increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration

Summary

Barrier Discharge

Carbon fixation refers to the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic materials, as commonly performed in nature through photosynthesis by plants and other autotrophic organisms. We have developed an electricity-driven facile CO2 fixation process that yields performic acid, HCO2OH, from CO2 and water at neutral pH by dielectric barrier discharge with an input electric power conversion efficiency of currently 0.2−0.4% This method offers a promising future technology for artificial carbon fixation on its own, and may be scaled up in combination with e.g., the post-combustion CO2 capture and storage technology. The semiconductor artificial photosynthesis convers CO2 to CO, HCO2H, CH4, CH3OH, etc., preferably under so-called Z-scheme but in a highly complex manner[5] It is questionable whether such systems can be scaled-up on a commercial basis and can keep the operation under intense sunlight for sufficiently long periods. Much more concentrated solutions near 100 mM, corresponding to roughly ~1 wt%, can be obtained by prolonged DBD operation and by post-DBD condensation

Results and Discussion

Methods

Additional Information