Colin develops direct electrolysis of CO2

Ltd. has developed an electrolytic technology for the direct electrolysis of carbon monoxide from carbon dioxide (CO₂) using a cheap and stable alloy material as a catalyst.

This one-step process converts CO₂ at 100°C and the resulting CO₂ can be used as a raw material for chemical products. On the other hand, the alloy catalyst is cheap and stable, and the cost is lower than that of PEM. In addition, the technology can be directly coupled with industrial syngas to electrolyze CO₂ with impurities, eliminating the separation process of CO₂.

The technology can also adjust the composition of the solvent and the catalyst material as needed to directly produce other compounds such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen syngas, formic acid, and ethylene.

Currently, the electrolysis technology has been tested for several thousand hours in 50 kW level systems. Next, the company plans to scale up this CO2 direct electrolysis technology to the megawatt level.

In recent years, researchers in various countries have proposed CO2 neutralization technologies, but they are basically based on the traditional two-step route of hydrogen production followed by CO2 neutralization. This route is costly and inefficient on the one hand, and requires high purity of the CO2 source on the other hand, which increases the cost of CO2 separation. Another existing technology is the direct electrolysis of carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce syngas using high temperature oxide film electrolyzer technology. This technology requires high temperature operating conditions and the cost of the electrolyzer is very high.