Carbon is a primary component of most present-day commodities and can be viewed as the backbone of our global economy. Carbon dioxide is considered one of the most abundant forms of carbon on earth and its continued buildup in the atmosphere has reached concentrations of around 410 ppm (ca. 32000 gigatons). Though many fear the impending effects of this accumulation on global climate patterns, others have viewed this plentiful compound as a cheap and largely untapped resource. Engineered carbon dioxide reduction to high energy density fuels and chemicals presents an economically sound approach to mitigate climate change while yielding tremendous environmental and societal benefits. In this work, multi-disciplinary research was conducted in the fields of microbiology, material science and electrochemistry to develop a two-stage biohybrid system that feeds electro-generated syngas produced from a CO<sub>2</sub> electrolysis cell to a downstream bioreactor for highly efficient conversion of syngas to value-added carbon products. The only inputs to system are carbon dioxide gas and renewable electrons. This system has demonstrated very high faradaic efficiencies of greater than 80% for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction to syngas over sustained periods of 1000 hours. In addition, the two-stage biohybrid system has produced valuable chemicals such as acetate and ethanol at very high rates of over 1g/L/day and 200 mg/L/day, respectively. Further optimization of the biohybrid system, including advanced gas delivery systems, are currently underway and will likely lead to increased titers and rates of chemical generation.

Rethinking the carbon economy: Combined electrochemical and biological reduction for carbon dioxide capture and valorization

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.