Researchers in the labs of Joshua Yuan and Susie Dai at the University of Missouri’s McKelvey School of Engineering used carbon dioxide electrocatalysis to convert carbon dioxide into intermediates, which were then converted by microorganisms into lipids or fatty acids that ultimately became biodiesel feedstocks, according to a report from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
The researchers used CO2 electrocatalysis to create an electric biodiesel that is 45 times more productive and uses 45 times less land than biodiesel made from soybeans.
“This new idea can be applied to the circular economy to produce emission-negative fuels, chemicals, materials and food ingredients at much higher efficiencies than photosynthesis, and with fewer carbon emissions than petrochemicals,” said Yuan, who began the work with Day at Texas A&M. “We systematically addressed the challenges in electro-biofabrication by identifying the metabolic and biochemical limits of diatomic carbon utilization and overcoming those limits.”
The team used electrocatalysis, a chemical reaction triggered by electron transfer between reactants on the surface of a catalyst, to convert carbon dioxide into biocompatible intermediates such as acetate and ethanol.