Simultaneous Carbon Capture and Utilization Using a Bipolar Membrane-Assisted Electrochemical Cell

Capturing CO₂ from air, seawater, or sources like factories is necessary to help limit global warming. Once captured, the carbon can be stored underground or converted to valuable products like carbon monoxide, a building block for many useful compounds. Combining capture and utilization could make carbon management more efficient and cost-effective. This project aims to develop an electrochemical process to capture and utilize carbon simultaneously in a single device, plus calculate its economic viability. The researchers are studying the use of a bipolar membrane, which can control the flow and concentration of ions, to help regulate pH near each electrode, enabling capture of CO₂ under alkaline conditions and its transformation to carbon monoxide under acidic conditions.