Yale scientists have developed a more efficient process to convert CO₂ emissions into methanol using a “two-in-one” catalyst, making carbon capture more scalable for industrial use.
Yale scientists have made a significant advancement toward developing a scalable method for removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and converting it into renewable fuel.
In a study published in Nature Nanotechnology, Yale chemist Hailiang Wang and his team detail their latest breakthrough: transforming industrial CO₂ emissions into methanol. Methanol, a widely used liquid fuel for internal combustion engines and other applications, offers a promising way to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
The process could have far-reaching applications throughout industry.
“This is a new strategy that brings CO2 reduction into methanol to a new level,” said Wang, a professor of chemistry in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the new study. Wang is also a member of the Yale Energy Sciences Institute and the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture.
Transforming CO2 into methanol is a two-step chemical reaction. First, CO2 reacts with a catalyst to become carbon monoxide (CO). The CO then undergoes a catalytic reaction to become methanol.
The most effective previous process — also developed in Wang’s lab — featured a single catalyst made of cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine molecules supported on carbon nanotubes.
But the two reaction steps have a mismatch on this single-site catalyst: the conversion of CO2 to CO is not as efficient or selective, which presents a challenge for scientists trying to devise a robust process that can be scaled up for industrial use.
A “Two-in-One” Catalyst Improves Efficiency
“Having just one type of catalytic site was not optimal for both steps in the reaction,” said Jing Li, a postdoctoral associate in Wang’s lab and first author of the new study. “To avoid this trade-off, we’ve now designed a ‘two-in-one’ catalyst.”
The new process starts with a nickel tetramethoxyphthalocyanine site for the conversion of CO2 into CO. The newly formed CO then migrates onto a cobalt site — catalysis scientists refer to this as “spillover” — to complete the reduction into methanol.
“Our work offers a potentially scalable solution to reduce carbon footprints and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy,” said Conor Rooney, a former Ph.D. student in Wang’s lab and co-author of the new study.
Reference: “Molecular-scale CO spillover on a dual-site electrocatalyst enhances methanol production from CO2 reduction” by Jing Li, Quansong Zhu, Alvin Chang, Seonjeong Cheon, Yuanzuo Gao, Bo Shang, Huan Li, Conor L. Rooney, Longtao Ren, Zhan Jiang, Yongye Liang, Zhenxing Feng, Shize Yang, L. Robert Baker and Hailiang Wang, 18 February 2025, Nature Nanotechnology.
DOI: 10.1038/s41565-025-01866-8
Rooney is a founder of Oxylus Energy, a company that works with industry partners to convert carbon waste into methanol liquid fuel, based on research from the Wang lab.
Additional co-authors from Yale include Seonjeong Cheon, Yuanzuo Gao, Bo Shang, Huan Li, Longtao Ren, and Shize Yang. Yang is director of Yale’s aberration-corrected electron microscopy core facility, a comprehensive electron microscopy and spectroscopy lab focusing on materials science research.
The study is a collaboration with Quansong Zhu and Robert Baker of Ohio State University, who provided experimental evidence for CO spillover from the nickel site to the cobalt site. Other collaborators on the study include Alvin Chang and Zhenxing Feng of Oregon State University and Huan Li, Zhan Jiang, and Yongye Liang of Southern University of Science and Technology.
The research was funded, in part, by the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture and the National Science Foundation.
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2 Comments
pioga.org/just-the-facts-more-co2-is-good-less-is-bad
“People should be celebrating, not demonizing, modern increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). We cannot overstate the importance of the gas. Without it, life doesn’t exist. Rare, exotic exceptions are anaerobic life forms dwelling at out-of-the-way places like ocean-bottom volcanic vents.”
“First, a bit of history: During each of the last four glacial advances, CO2’s concentration fell below 190 parts per million (ppm), less than 50 percent of our current concentration of 420 ppm. When glaciers began receding about 14,000 years ago – a blink in geological time – CO2 levels fell to 182 ppm, a concentration thought to be the lowest in Earth’s history.”
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“Line of Death
Why is this alarming? Because below 150 ppm, most terrestrial plant life dies. Without plants, there are no animals.”
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“In other words, the Earth came within 30 ppm in CO2’s atmospheric concentration of witnessing the extinction of most land-based plants and all higher terrestrial life-forms – nearly a true climate apocalypse. Before industrialization began adding CO2 to the atmosphere, there was no telling whether the critical 150-ppm threshold wouldn’t be reached during the next glacial period.”
… more see article
“Rooney is a founder of Oxylus Energy, a company that works with industry partners to convert carbon waste into methanol liquid fuel, based on research from the Wang lab.
The research was funded, in part, by the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture and the National Science Foundation.”
In other words, at least two of the principles in this research have vested financial interests in the success of scaling this up to industrial levels. How does this differ from the frequent accusations about fossil fuel companies not being honest brokers because of their financial interests?