Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Formic acid production by electrochemical reduction of CO2

stamasd - 3-11-2019 at 14:57

I have seen this method mentioned in passing in an unrelated article, but without any details attached to it. I have done a bit of web search but didn't come up with anything substantial. I assume that it would be something on the order of:

CO2 + H2O --> H-COOH + 1/2 O2

But... conditions? Catalysts? I have seen a mention in an abstract that was not behind a paywall about the use of a In2O3/ZnO catalyst but without details.

Can anyone point me to any resources that would shed more light about this process?

Chemetix - 3-11-2019 at 15:53

This sort of chemistry is the holy grail of chemical engineering and there are thousands of papers each year from around the globe on CO2 reduction. It's a hard nut to crack. Just be prepared to wade through a mountain of publications and data. There's all sorts of catalysts and conditions, all vying for a shot of explaining a more efficient mechanism or technique. Currently the Irridium and or Rhenium catalysts are the most efficient, and as fate would have it, the most rare and expensive metals on earth.

This might be worth finding a copy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/advances-in-inorgan...

As this study of catalysts is contained in it among other CO2 reductions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012420...



stamasd - 3-11-2019 at 16:01

Quote: Originally posted by Chemetix  
This sort of chemistry is the holy grail of chemical engineering and there are thousands of papers each year from around the globe on CO2 reduction. It's a hard nut to crack. Just be prepared to wade through a mountain of publications and data. There's all sorts of catalysts and conditions, all vying for a shot of explaining a more efficient mechanism or technique. Currently the Irridium and or Rhenium catalysts are the most efficient, and as fate would have it, the most rare and expensive metals on earth.

This might be worth finding a copy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/advances-in-inorgan...

As this study of catalysts is contained in it among other CO2 reductions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012420...





Thank you for the links! I know it's one of the holy grails, why do you think it attracted my attention. :)

Rhenium, huh? A well known source says " the price of rhenium has dropped to US$2,844 per kilogram" :D Yeah dirt cheap.

Sounds like an interesting hobby project. At least if I fail, I'll have the excuse that well-funded labs fail too.

Sulaiman - 3-11-2019 at 17:10

Quote: Originally posted by stamasd  
...Rhenium, huh? A well known source says " the price of rhenium has dropped to US$2,844 per kilogram" :D Yeah dirt cheap...

At 13.2x cheaper than gold (per kilogramme) it sounds like a good investment
... you should buy a few kilogrammes quickly before others realise and the price skyrockets :P

stamasd - 3-11-2019 at 18:14

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman  
Quote: Originally posted by stamasd  
...Rhenium, huh? A well known source says " the price of rhenium has dropped to US$2,844 per kilogram" :D Yeah dirt cheap...

At 13.2x cheaper than gold (per kilogramme) it sounds like a good investment
... you should buy a few kilogrammes quickly before others realise and the price skyrockets :P


Yeah that was from a few years ago. Currently it hovers at almost double that. Damn. :D

clearly_not_atara - 3-11-2019 at 20:50

There are some simpler sounding systems that produce oxalate:

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6883

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acscatal.8b04327

stamasd - 4-11-2019 at 03:32

@clearly_not_atara very interesting. The first system seems to be discontinuous and not electrochemical, but the second one (though I don't have access to the full article) is a lot more promising based on the abstract. You don't happen to have the full article, do you?

Fery - 4-11-2019 at 09:31

Quote: Originally posted by stamasd  
You don't happen to have the full article, do you?

https://sci-hub.tw/https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsc...

stamasd - 4-11-2019 at 13:29

Quote: Originally posted by Fery  
Quote: Originally posted by stamasd  
You don't happen to have the full article, do you?

https://sci-hub.tw/https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsc...


Thank you!