Researchers at the University of Cambridge (UK) have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the power source. The researchers say their solar-powered reactor could be used to make fuel to power cars and planes, or many... Read more →

Scientists led by EPFL, the University of Copenhagen, and Shanghai University have developed a copper catalyst that can efficiently convert carbon dioxide into acetaldehyde, a key chemical used in manufacturing. The breakthrough offers a green alternative to fossil-fuel-based processes. Acetaldehyde is a vital chemical used in making everything from perfumes... Read more →

Toray Industries will install a pilot facility for its all-carbon carbon dioxide separation membrane at its Shiga Plant. An all-carbon cO2 separation membrane owes its high performance to a dual-layer structure, comprising a thin carbon film separation layer on the surface of a hollow-fiber porous carbon-fiber support. Making the support... Read more →

A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has found a way to thwart deactivation of catalysts for the dry reforming of methane. Dry reforming of methane converts methane and carbon dioxide into syngas, a valued mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide used by oil... Read more →

Henkel Corporation, a global leader for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, and Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, have announced a partnership to enhance circularity in emulsion production by utilizing carbon capture-based materials. Earlier this year, Celanese launched a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) project at its... Read more →

Swedish eFuel facility developer Liquid Wind raised €44 million in Series C financing led by Uniper, HYCAP Fund I SCSp (“HYCAP”) and Samsung Ventures. The financing will support the development of 10 eFuel facilities by 2027 as part of the company’s vision of reaching 500 facilities globally by 2050. The... Read more →

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Missouri, and their collaborators at Texas A&M University, have used electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide to create an electro-biodiesel that is 45-times more efficient and uses 45-times less land than soybean-based biodiesel production. Results of their work are published Joule. This... Read more →

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now presented a method for electrocatalytically converting carbon dioxide into ethanol, which is then available as a sustainable raw material for chemical applications. According to Professor Carsten Streb from the JGU Department of Chemistry, the conversion technique, which has so far been... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), with DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), announced more than $58.5 million in federal funding for projects to help develop a commercially viable carbon dioxide (CO2) removal industry in the United States. The funding... Read more →

Researchers at George Washington University led by Prof. Stuart Licht have been working for years on developing and evolving a process for the high-yield, low-energy synthesis of oxygen and graphene nanocarbons (GNCs), such as carbon nanotubes, by the electrolysis of CO2 in molten carbonate (Li2CO3). (E.g., earlier post) A 11,000... Read more →

AIR COMPANY, a carbon conversion technology company, has raised $69 million in Series B funding to advance its technology, promote energy security, and drive emissions reductions in hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation. Avfuel, a leading global supplier of aviation fuel and services, led the round and will be the preferred... Read more →

Twelve, the carbon transformation company that converts captured carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals, fuels, and other essential products typically made from fossil fuels, announced $645 million in funding. This raise is a strategic mix of capital which includes $400 million in project equity led by TPG Rise Climate, $200 million... Read more →

Scientists have identified a new way to improve the process for using sunlight to make a liquid fuel from carbon dioxide. Researchers showed that three-dimensional silicon scaffolds on photoelectrodes improve the yield of the desired products of chemical reactions. Two examples of silicon photoelectrodes. Left: Micropillar silicon with cobalt catalysts... Read more →

Estonia-based UP Catalyst, a developer of sustainable carbon material production directly from CO2 emissions, has successfully closed a €2.36-million seed extension round. This follows the initial seed round raised last December which amounted to €4 million, bringing the total seed funding to €6.36 million. The funding round saw equal participation... Read more →

OXCCU, a spin-out company from the University of Oxford developing novel catalysts and reactor designs to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into hydrocarbons with high conversion and selectivity for use as fuels, chemicals and plastics (earlier post), has launched its first official demonstration plant, OX1, at Oxford Airport. Through its... Read more →

Sora Fuel, a startup producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using only water, air and renewable energy, raised an oversubscribed $6 million seed round. The Engine Ventures led the round, with Wireframe Ventures and others participating. The funding will be used to expand Sora Fuel’s Boston-based team, develop commercialization partnerships and... Read more →

ArcelorMittal and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) are working with a climate tech company, D-CRBN, to trial a new technology to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) captured at ArcelorMittal’s plant in Gent, Belgium into carbon monoxide which can be used in steel and chemical production. This is the first industrial testing... Read more →

A team of scientists led by Kumar Varoon Agrawal at EPFL has developed membranes that show exceptional CO2 capture performance by incorporating pyridinic nitrogen at the edges of graphene pores. The membranes strike a remarkable balance of high CO2 permeance and selectivity, making them highly promising for various industrial applications.... Read more →

Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a digital model to accelerate the optimization of membrane-electrode assemblies to convert CO2 to fuel and other products. A paper on the work appears in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering. Carbon dioxide can be transformed into valuable feedstocks such as carbon monoxide and ethylene, which... Read more →

A team of scientists led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has found an unconventional way to improve catalysts made of more than one material. The solution demonstrates a path to designing catalysts with greater activity, selectivity and stability. A catalyst normally uses a support to... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a catalyst material—cobalt phthalocyanine—that converts carbon dioxide into renewable fuels such as methanol. In a study published in the journal ACS Catalysis, U-M researchers report using cobalt phthalocyanine as a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into methanol through multiple reaction steps. The... Read more →

The US Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $100 million to help develop a commercially viable carbon dioxide removal industry in the United States. The funding will support pilot projects and testing facilities to demonstrate and scale carbon dioxide removal technologies... Read more →

A team of researchers from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the University of Pittsburgh has developed a new high-performance catalyst that electrochemically converts carbon dioxide and water into formic acid, which can be used as a hydrogen carrier. An open-access paper detailing the research appears in the journal... Read more →

BASF process catalysts, a leading provider of innovative catalyst technology, announced a new collaboration with Envision Energy. The collaboration aims to develop further the conversion of green hydrogen and CO2 into e-methanol through an advanced, dynamic process design. Backed by their respective expertise, the two companies aim to optimize the... Read more →

Fairway Methanol LLC, a US-based 50-50 joint venture between Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials and chemical company, has begun the production of methanol by using carbon dioxide captured from Celanese’s Clear Lake, Texas site. Fairway Methanol is expected to capture 180,000 metric tons of... Read more →

Researchers from Zhejiang University have developed a highly active, selective, and durable copper nanoparticle catalyst for converting CO2 to dimethyl ether (DME). This was achieved by loading Cu nanoparticles onto hydrophobic and gallium (Ga)-modified silica supports. The Ga-modified silica provided moderate acidity for methanol dehydration to DME, which hindered deep... Read more →

ExxonMobil’s affiliate Esso Nederland BV plans to build a pilot carbon capture plant at its Rotterdam Manufacturing Complex to test carbonate fuel cell technology jointly developed with FuelCell Energy. The pilot plant will obtain data on performance and operability of the carbonate fuel cell (CFC) technology. Additionally, the pilot aims... Read more →

Oxylus Energy, the Yale-based start-up formerly known as Carbon Loop, has successfully passed key benchmark tests for the deployment and commercialization of its proprietary catalyst and electrolyzer technology in a 5cm2 cell. This is a critical platform for design iterations, as it offers significant predictability for performance at the size... Read more →

Start-up Aether Fuels announced US$8.5 million in pre-Series A financing via convertible notes. The global syndicate includes JetBlue Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) division of JetBlue, as well as TechEnergy Ventures (the CVC division of the Techint Group), Doral Energy Tech Ventures (the CVC division of Doral Energy), Foothill... Read more →

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, along with scientists from more than a dozen institutions, have completed a first-of-its-kind high-resolution assessment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the United States. The report, “Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States,” charts a path for the United... Read more →

The seventh annual meeting of the Baden-Württemberg Automotive Industry Strategic Dialogue (SDA) in Berlin marked a milestone in the collaboration between the Baden-Württemberg state government, Porsche AG and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) with the signing of a letter of intent to develop further and... Read more →

Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have developed an efficient process that can convert carbon dioxide into formate, a liquid or solid material that can be used like hydrogen or methanol to power a fuel cell and generate electricity. Potassium or sodium formate, already produced at industrial scales and commonly... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), GTI Energy, GE Vernova (GE) and the USDepartment of Energy celebrated the ribbon-cutting of the Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant. The $155-million, 10-megawatt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) test facility at SwRI’s headquarters in San Antonio will demonstrate an innovative new method of higher-efficiency,... Read more →

Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) successfully produced FT synthetic fuel from synthesis gas with an admixture of 20% CO2. Sumitomo envisions producing liquid fuel using CO2 emitted from power plants, factories, and other sources as a raw material. In most conventional cases of FT synthesis (Gas-To-Liquids process), the raw material has... Read more →

Carbon Recycling International (CRI) and Jiangsu Sailboat successfully started up a CO2-to-methanol plant, CRI’s second in China. The Jiangsu Sailboat Methanol plant operates with CRI’s proprietary Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) technology, transforming waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases into sustainable, commercial-grade methanol. (Earlier post.) The facility is built to recycle 150,000 tonnes... Read more →

Airbus has become a strategic partner with DG Fuels (DGF), an emerging producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). DGF’s fuel production system is based entirely on cellulosic waste products, such as wood waste from the logging industry, and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power. The partnership with... Read more →

Cemvita Corporation announced an offtake arrangement with United Airlines for up to 1 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Cemvita’s first full-scale SAF plant. Under the agreement, signed by Cemvita and United Airlines, Cemvita will supply United Airlines up to 50 million gallons annually for 20 years of... Read more →

At the IAA Summit in Munich, HIF Global, together with Porsche AG, Volkswagen Group Innovation and MAN Energy Solutions, announced the development and installation of a Direct Air Capture (DAC) unit at the HIF Haru Oni Demonstration facility in southern Chile in 2024. (Earlier post.) HIF’s Haru Oni is the... Read more →

Researchers from University of Girona (Spain) successfully used electrically efficient microbial electrosynthesis cells (MES) to convert CO2 to butyric acid. In an open-access paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, they reported operating the low ohmic resistance (15.7 mΩ m2) cells in a batch-fed mode, alternating high CO2... Read more →

Researchers at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed an electrolyzer capable of converting carbon dioxide into propane in a manner that is both scalable and economically viable. A paper on the work is published in... Read more →

Topsoe will lead the FrontFuel project to develop highly efficient Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production from CO2, water, and renewable electricity. Topsoe will receive a 26.9 million DKK (US$4 million) grant from Denmark’s EUDP (Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program) to fund the project. The FrontFuel project will use carbon... Read more →

OXCCU, a company spun-out from the University of Oxford in 2021 that is focused on converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products (earlier post), completed an £18-million (US$22.8 million) Series A financing round. The round was led by Clean Energy Ventures with participation from investors Aramco Ventures;... Read more →

Researchers from Tokyo Tech have developed a tin-based metal–organic framework (MOF) that can photocatalytically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) into formate under visible light. The tin-based MOF exhibited a high apparent quantum yield of 9.8% and carried out extremely selective photoreduction without needing an additional photosensitizer. This could prove extremely useful,... Read more →

Electrofuels provider Infinium and comprehensive carbon management company Navigator CO2 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding and long-term relationship for Navigator to deliver 600,000 tons per annum (TPA) of biogenic carbon dioxide from its Heartland Greenway system to a future Infinium facility for the production of electrofuels (eFuels). The Heartland... Read more →

Carbon transformation company Twelve and fuel technology partner Emerging Fuels Technology (EFT) signed a Master License Agreement to support Twelve’s scaleup of its E-Jet fuel, a fossil-free sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced using the company’s carbon transformation technology in combination with EFT’s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Maxx Jet upgrading technology. (Earlier... Read more →

BHP has signed an agreement for piloting of carbon capture and utilization technology with China’s HBIS Group Co., Ltd (HBIS), one of the world’s largest steelmakers and a major iron ore customer of BHP. As part of this new project, HBIS and BHP will trial pilot-scale demonstrations of carbon capture... Read more →

A research team led by Profs. CHEN Wei and WEI Wei from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed novel graphene/silicon carbide (SiC) catalysts for efficient CO2 photoelectroreduction to ethanol (C2H5OH). The results were published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The composite catalyst,... Read more →

United States Steel Corporation and CarbonFree Chemicals Holdings, LLC (CarbonFree) recently signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) jointly to pursue the capture of CO2 emissions generated from US Steel’s Gary Works manufacturing plant using CarbonFree’s SkyCycle technology. If a definitive agreement is reached, the project is expected to capture... Read more →

Tests conducted by Titirici Group, a multidisciplinary research team based at Imperial College London, have found that a novel carbon nanotube electrode material derived from CO2—produced by Estonian nanotech company UP Catalyst (earlier post)—enhances the cyclability of sodium-ion batteries. The results showed 93.75% capacity retention after exceeding 4000 charge and... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award some $118 million in funding for 17 projects to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels. Made from widely available domestic feedstocks and advanced refining technologies, energy-dense biofuels provide a pathway for low-carbon fuels that can lower greenhouse gas emissions throughout the transportation... Read more →