Affordable, fully electric vehicular transportation. Clean, renewable energy. A place where barrel after face-melting barrel of radioactive waste from the nuclear weapons program can be disposed of safely. Of all the ways to cut down on future pollution, “scraping ominous yellow fluid out of your car” doesn’t seem to make the list. However, that may be in our future.
It’s no secret that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to climate change. However, rather than finding a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we spew out, a team of researchers at Rutgers University took a different took a different approach to solving the problem.
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By using something called an “electrocatalyst,” they were able to synthesize carbon dioxide and water into two completely different things: methylglyoxal and 2,3-furandiol. An electrocatalyst functions like a regular catalyst would (initiating or otherwise expediting a chemical reaction), with the assistance of a small amount of electrical current.
Both methylglyoxal and 2,3-furandiol are used to create many things in everyday life. Both are used in the creation of different kinds of plastic, and methylglyoxal can be used to create resin coatings for furniture. 2,3-furandiol can also aid in the creation of pharmaceuticals.
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This is only the beginning; there is still much more to learn about the reaction. By choosing different catalysts and changing the conditions, the potential to yield even more useful substances is increased.
It’s interesting to think about the possibilities when it comes to a technology like this. Could we all have carbon dioxide to methylglyoxal converters in the exhaust systems of our cars? Would people be willing to scrape the yellow liquid out their car to cut back on emissions?
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Only time will tell. The electrolyzers themselves are already being designed for commercial use, so it seems as though there isn’t a long wait ahead of us.