Carbon negative chemicals synthesis directly from the air

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What if we could pull chemical building blocks such as carbon or nitrogen directly from the air and use renewable energy to synthesise any desired chemical? This would enable a carbon negative chemical industry to be established anywhere in the world, supplying vital needs for developing economies such as fuel, fertiliser and consumer products. This project seeks to demonstrate that an important chemical, methanol, can be produced using only CO2 captured from air and green hydrogen, under mild conditions by employing "dual function materials". Methanol is an attractive starting point for carbon negative chemicals synthesis because it is viewed as a chemical that can replace oil, in a new "methanol economy". Direct air capture (DAC) and carbon negative chemicals synthesis are key innovations to reach the UK's ambitious goal of becoming a net zero emitter of carbon dioxide by 2050. Coupling DAC with chemicals production constitutes a truly circular economic venture because any CO2 released during the downstream processing and use of products will not result in a net increase in atmospheric CO2. Through the synthesis of products with long lifetimes that do not get fully combusted in their use (e.g. durable materials of construction), some CO2 will be sequestered in carbon negative products. In this project, upon proof of concept for methanol synthesis from direct air captured CO2, a combined computational and experimental approach will be developed for rational design of dual function materials, as well as for identifying optimum operating conditions leading to maximum capture of CO2 and minimum energy requirement.