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Turning carbon dioxide into valuable products | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to climate change and a significant product of many human activities, notably industrial manufacturing. A major goal in the energy field has been to chemically convert emitted CO2 into valuable chemicals or fuels. But while CO2 is available in abundance, it has not yet been widely used to generate value-added products. Why not? The reason is that CO2 molecules are highly stable and therefore not prone to being chemically converted to a different form. Researchers have sought materials and device designs that could help spur that conversion, but nothing has worked well enough to yield an efficient, cost-effective system. Two years ago, Ariel Furst, the Raymond (1921) and Helen St. Laurent Career Development Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, decided to try using something different — a material that gets more attention in discussions of biology than of chemical engineering. Already, results from work in her lab suggest that her unusual

Assistant Professor Ariel Furst and her colleagues are looking to DNA to help guide the process. Nancy W. Stauffer | MIT Energy Initiative Publication Date : September 7, 2022 Press Inquiries Press Contact : Kelley Travers Email: ktravers@mit.edu Phone: 617-715-5279 MIT Energy Initiative Close Caption : Professor Ariel Furst (center), undergraduate Rachel Ahlmark (left), postdoc Gang Fan (right), and their colleagues are employing biological materials, including DNA, to achieve the conversion of carbon dioxide to valuable products. Credits : Photo: Gretchen Ertl Previous image Next image Carbo

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