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Advancing Towards Sustainability: Turning Carbon Dioxide and Water into Acetylene

A research team led by Yuta Suzuki, Assistant Professor at Harris Science Research Institute and Takuya Goto, Professor at the Department of Science of Environment and Mathematical Modeling, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, develop an environmentally friendly method to electrochemically synthesize an essential industrial gas.
Acetylene is an essential precursor in the production of resins and plastics such as PVC, as well as a useful gas in many industrial processes. However, its synthesis requires fossil fuels, making it environmentally taxing. Now, Suzuki, Goto and their research team have developed an innovative electrochemical technique to produce acetylene using carbon dioxide and water as raw materials. This method could greatly reduce the carbon footprint of acetylene synthesis and contribute to sustainable carbon capture technologies.

The search for sustainable method to produce acetylene
Acetylene is widely used in across many industries, including the production of resins and plastics like PVC. Realizing an environmentally friendly technique to synthesize it would represent a massive step towards building sustainable societies.

Reference
Suzuki Y., Tanaka S., Watanabe T., Isogai T., Yamauchi A., Kishikawa Y., Goto T. New Route of Acetylene Synthesis via Electrochemical Formation of Metal Carbides from CO2 in Chloride Melts (2024) ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 12 (5), pp. 2110 – 2119.
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c08139

For more details, please see the website of Organization for Research Initiatives and Development, Doshisha University.
[Research News] Advancing Towards Sustainability: Turning Carbon Dioxide and Water into Acetylene

This achievement has also been featured in the “EurekAlert!.”
NEWS RELEASE 27-MAR-2024, Advancing Towards Sustainability: Turning Carbon Dioxide and Water into Acetylene

Image Credit: Yuta Suzuki from Doshisha University, Japan
License type: CC BY

Professor Takuya Goto, the platform head, presented the research outcome in the MSILD Summer meeting of the Royal Society of Chemistry held at Churchill College, Cambridge, 8-10 August 2023.

The Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids Discussion Group (MSILDG) the Royal Society of Chemistry held its Summer Meeting at Churchill College, Cambridge, 8-10 August 2023. International researchers participate in this three-day meeting. Professor Takuya Goto, the platform head, presented “Oxygen electrode behavior of La1-xSrxFeO3-δ electrodes in molten LiCl-KCl,” which is the research outcome with his colleague Yuta Suzuki and Seiya Tanaka (assistant professors), Shunichi Kimura (Ph.D. student), and Takashi Fukumoto (graduate) at the Department of Environmental Systems Science.

https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/76650/2023-msildg-summer-research-meeting

The platform’s representative, Professor Takuya Goto, gave a keynote speech.

On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, an online seminar titled “Realizing a Carbon Neutral Ecosystem” was held by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC.

The seminar consisted of two parts: Part 1: “The Latest Trends in CN and the Importance of Ecosystems” by Deloitte Tohmatsu, and Part 2: “Prospects and Challenges for CN Social Implementation” from the perspective of startup academia.

At this seminar, the platform’s representative, Professor Takuya Goto (Faculty of Science and Engineering), gave a keynote speech titled “CN Education and Research and Social Implementation,” in which he discussed the “Next Environment” Collaborative Creation Course for students and adults to learn together, the introduction of social implementation and core technologies of carbon recycling, efforts toward social implementation, and the platform’s vision.

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