Summary: UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering have developed a novel system for efficiently converting carbon dioxide to liquid fuel for sustainable energy storage and utilization. Background: The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into high-energy-density liquid fuel presents a promising pathway for sustainable energy storage and utilization. Traditional CO2 electrolyzers are designed similarly to zero-gap electrode architectures used in fuel cells and water electrolyzers. However, conventional designs are fundamentally limited by low CO2 conversion rates and produce diluted fuel streams that necessitate energy intensive downstream separation processes. Gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs), commonly employed in current CO2 electrolyzers, exacerbate these issues due to inherent inefficiencies of their gas transport mechanisms. GDEs suffer from limitations like millimeter-sized gas channels that cause high pressure drops, limiting maximum CO2 conversion and making them unsuitable for industrial-scale liquid fuel production. Consequently, there is a critical need for innovative CO2 electrolyzer designs that overcome these shortfalls to enable efficient, scalable, and sustainable fuel production.
Innovation: Researchers in UCLA’s Department of Chemical Engineering have developed the CO2 Electrolyzer Column (e-CO2LUMN). This system overcomes limitations present in traditional GDE designs, leading to highly concentrated liquid fuel product. This novel design presents a significant improvement from the current state-of-the-art in its ethanol production capabilities, owing to its modular and scalable design. Dynamic multivariable control of operating potentials, temperatures, and gas-liquid interactions at each stage is achieved through machine-learning algorithms. This predictive control system optimizes product selectivity and process efficiency, making the e-CO2LUMN exceptionally suited to integration with intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, without additional strain to the electrical grid. This innovation marks a significant improvement from traditional electrolyzer architectures by dramatically improving the rate of CO2 conversion to liquid fuels.
Potential Applications: • Sustainable liquid fuel (e.g. ethanol) production from CO2 and renewable electricity • Renewable energy storage in liquid fuel form • Integration with intermittent renewable energy sources to balance energy supply/demand • Adaptation for electrocatalytic processes requiring high gas conversion efficiencies
Advantages: • High conversion efficiency • Clear path for scale-up • Concentrated liquid fuel outputs • Reduced need for energy-intensive separation processes • Modular column design allows facile scaling to industrial capacities • Optimized operation with dynamic, predictive control • Reduced learning curve • Decreased dependence on electrical grid
State of Development: The invention has been described in a soon-to-be-published manuscript and a prototype developed and tested.
Related Papers: Shen K, Kumari S, Huang YC, Jang J, Sautet P, Morales-Guio CG. Electrochemical Oxidation of Methane to Methanol on Electrodeposited Transition Metal Oxides. J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Mar 29;145(12):6927-6943. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.3c00441
Reference: UCLA Case No. 2025-032
Lead Inventor: Carlos Morales-Guio, UCLA Professor of Chemical Engineering
Additional Press Releases:
GREENWELLS—Grid-free Renewable Energy Enabling New Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-term Storage