EU Project Pursues Electrochemical CO₂ Conversion From Industrial Waste

Producing essential chemicals in a climate-neutral way

Platform chemicals such as ethylene are most often made from fossil source materials and generate considerable CO_₂ emissions. The EU-funded project REACT, in which Empa is one of the partners, aims to instead produce ethylene from industrial CO_₂ waste, thus closing the carbon loop. The consortium is developing a functional electrolysis system for the conversion of CO_₂ to ethylene.

Many people know ethylene from their kitchen. This colorless, sweet-smelling gas is a natural plant hormone, responsible for ripening apples, tomatoes and bananas. But ethylene is also an important industrial chemical with global production exceeding 317 million tons annually. It is mainly used as a platform chemical: a precursor or reagent to create a multitude of chemical products, from plastics to pharmaceuticals.

More than 95% of ethylene is currently produced through fossil-based steam cracking processes that generate approximately 260 million tons of CO_₂ emissions each year. An EU project with Empa involvement aims to transform this carbon-intensive sector. The project, called REACT (short for Renewable Electrochemical Advanced Conversion of CO_₂ to Target products), aims to provide a renewable alternative that converts industrial emissions into valuable resources.

The project focuses on recycling CO_₂ from hard-to-abate industries such as steel, cement, and chemical manufacturing. Through a novel impurity-tolerant tandem electrochemical process, REACT can directly convert low-purity industrial CO_₂ streams into valuable chemical products while significantly reducing the need for costly pre-treatment. Powered by renewable energy, the project takes previously unavoidable CO_₂ emissions and turns them into a valuable feedstock for next-generation chemicals and materials.

Closer to implementation
"We have been working on CO_₂ conversion through electrolysis at lab scale for many years", says Corsin Battaglia, head of Empa's Materials for Energy Conversion laboratory. "The goal of the REACT project is to create a working prototype electrolyser for the CO_₂ to ethylene conversion, bringing it to a much higher technology readiness level", elaborates the researcher. Battaglia's team will study how the impurities in the industrial waste CO_₂ influence the activity and the longevity of the catalyst used in the electrolyser. The Empa team can rely on the parallel CO_₂ electrolysis reactor, which they have previously developed. The automated system in their lab allows for up to ten simultaneous experiments.

REACT advances circular carbon value chains, strengthens European industrial autonomy, and contributes to the transition towards climate-neutral chemical production. The project also integrates innovative materials, advanced monitoring systems, and digital twin technologies to enhance efficiency, durability, scalability, and economic feasibility. "What we learn and develop during REACT will also help advance other CO_₂ conversion technologies, for example into synthetic fuels", summarizes Battaglia. Valorizing CO_₂ is a core concept in Empa's research initiative, Mining the Atmosphere, which looks for ways to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and either store it long-term or convert it into useful chemical products, thus closing the cycle.