Greenhouse Gas to Fuels - Nanochemistry Solutions

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Canada, together with other countries, has embraced the opportunity to transition its unsustainable consumer economy to a sustainable one by recycling waste generated from manufacturing, transportation, and consumption. Our paradigm envisions carbon dioxide as a feedstock and asset, rather than a waste product and liability, being convertible into synthetic fuels for a carbon neutral carbon cycle. In the case of solar fuels made from CO2 and H2O powered by sunlight, the focus of the proposal requires the discovery of highly active photocatalysts and the development of high performance photoreactors to enable the process. To meaningfully impact climate change, targeted catalysts must be able to make synthetic fuels from CO2 at industrially practical scales and rates of conversion, while maintaining long-term performance stability. In addition, the catalyst must comprise earth-abundant, low-cost, and non-toxic elements, with high selectivity and total conversion, to ensure economically viable and environmentally sound CO2 refineries. The aforementioned challenges motivated and set the stage for the next phase of our research, specifically, the discovery and optimization of high performance nanostructured catalysts for the solar-powered heterogeneous hydrogenation of CO2 to synthetic fuels, such as syngas, methanol and hydrocarbons. In particular, it is essential to evaluate the activity, selectivity, stability, surface chemistry, kinetics, and mechanistic pathways of catalysts under ideal reactor operating conditions of pressure, temperature, gas composition, and flow rate. With this knowledge, it will be possible to scale the top-performing photocatalysts to enable the development of lab-scale demonstration units, and ultimately, pilot-scale plants for the conversion of CO2 to synthetic fuels. Our focus will be on the discovery of next-generation CO2 utilization materials, through both experimental and computational methods, and the development of new and improved reactors and processes to enable these CO2 conversions. The objective of our research is to enable Canada to be a world leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative, competitive, low-carbon technologies. This will assist Canada meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in the challenge of ameliorating global warming and climate change. It will help create Canadian industries that can manufacture made-in-Canada clean technology for a sustainable future.