Empa Aims to Produce Ethylene from Recycled Carbon Dioxide

(CONNCET) According to a press release, researchers at the Materials for Energy Conversion laboratory at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), based in Dübendorf, are working on the development of an electrolytic process that can be used to produce the plastic ethylene from carbon dioxide emissions. The research is being conducted as part of the EU-funded REACT (Renewable Electrochemical Advanced Conversion of CO2 to Target Products) project. The programme will run for 48 months under Horizon Europe, from May 2026 to April 2030.

“The goal of the REACT project is to develop a functional prototype of an electrolyser for converting CO2 into ethylene, thereby significantly increasing the technology’s maturity,” Corsin Battaglia, head of the Empa laboratory, is quoted as saying in the press release. The research focuses on recycling carbon dioxide from industries where it is difficult to reduce emissions, such as the steel, cement, and chemical industries. Here, Empa is using an electrochemical tandem process that converts low-purity carbon dioxide into chemical feedstocks without the need for costly pretreatment. The energy required for this comes from renewable sources. Among other things, the study examines the effects of impurities on the service life of the catalysts used in the electrolyser. The researchers are using a parallel reactor developed at Empa for CO2 electrolysis.

REACT promotes circular carbon value chains. “What we learn and develop as part of REACT will also help advance other CO2 conversion technologies, such as those used to produce synthetic fuels,” said Battaglia. ce/ww