In Partnership with Korea Institute of Science and Technology
LG Chem and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a process to make plastic raw materials with carbon dioxide in the air.
LG Chem announced on May 9 that it has developed, through collaboration with KIST, an electrochemical conversion reactor that can boost the efficiency of converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) to carbon monoxide (CO) to the highest level in the world.
An electrochemical conversion reactor is a device that converts carbon dioxide into carbon compounds with high added value, such as carbon monoxide, using electricity. It can also make syngas, a raw material for various fuels and compounds. As the new technology uses carbon dioxide, which is abundantly present in the atmosphere, as a raw material, it is expected to help the world achieve carbon neutrality.
An LG Chem official said that the company has realized an optimal scale for commercialization of the reactor by applying a stack method, in which cells are stacked in the reactor sideways. Moreover, the electric current efficiency used for carbon dioxide decomposition and reduction is above 90 percent, the highest among the values reported in papers so far, he added.
The two organizations plan to increase the size of the reactor 10 times or more to commercialize it. Furthermore, it plans to develop a technology to capture carbon dioxide in the air and produce ethylene (C₂H₄), a raw material for various petrochemical products.