{"id":177842,"date":"2026-06-24T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=177842"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T10:08:00","slug":"uq-tech-turns-captured-co%e2%82%82-into-valuable-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/uq-tech-turns-captured-co%e2%82%82-into-valuable-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"UQ tech turns captured CO\u2082 into valuable chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"PhD
PhD student Rizal Evans, Professor Xiwang Zhang and Dr Mike Tebyetekerwa.
(Photo credit: The University of Queensland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first-of-its-kind electrochemical generator offers high\u2011emissions\u202findustries a\u202fsafer and more environmentally friendly\u202fpathway to convert waste CO\u2082\u202finto useful products, while reducing the need for\u202ffossil-fuel\u2011based\u202fchemical manufacturing.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by Professor Xiwang Zhang<\/a>, Dr Mike Tebyetekerwa <\/a>and PhD student Rizal Evans from UQ\u2019s School of Chemical Engineering<\/a>, the generator is powered by electricity and requires only water and captured carbon dioxide to create formate, the base compound for formic acid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWith\u00a0basic\u00a0ingredients\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0push\u00a0of\u00a0a button,\u00a0we are able to deliver chemicals that\u00a0are hugely important for a number of industries,\u201d\u00a0Professor Zhang<\/strong> said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt demonstrates\u00a0that carbon dioxide can be reused, rather than treated solely as a waste product.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are industries that need formic acid, and others that have large amounts of CO\u2082\u202fthey want to manage.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis technology creates an opportunity to connect those 2 challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A formic acid generator designed by UQ researchers.
(Photo credit: The University of Queensland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Formic acid is\u202fcommonly used in agriculture, leather tanning, rubber\u202fmanufacturing\u202fand other industrial processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia currently imports almost all of its formic acid, leaving local industry vulnerable to external supply disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Tebyetekerwa said the generator had been designed to be modular, allowing it to be scaled up or down depending on industry needs.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cInstead of transporting and storing large volumes of formic acid, the idea is that it could be produced where it is needed,\u201d Dr Tebyetekerwa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat has implications for safety, supply security and emissions, particularly for industries that already produce CO\u2082\u202fas part of their operations.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Evans said potential applications ranged from agriculture and livestock production to resource and energy sectors.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have already had a resource company enquire about using it to produce formic acid as an antifreeze for its pipes,\u201d he<\/strong> said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe technology is still in the testing phase, and not quite ready yet for commercial use.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The researchers said field trials with industry partners would\u202fbe required\u202fto assess how the generator performs under\u202freal\u2011world\u202fconditions and how it could be adapted to different industrial settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaboration and acknowledgements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The research is supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through its Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide<\/a> (GETCO\u2082).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first-of-its-kind electrochemical generator offers high\u2011emissions\u202findustries a\u202fsafer and more environmentally friendly\u202fpathway to convert waste CO\u2082\u202finto useful products, while reducing the need for\u202ffossil-fuel\u2011based\u202fchemical manufacturing.\u202f  Designed by Professor Xiwang Zhang, Dr Mike Tebyetekerwa and PhD student Rizal Evans from UQ\u2019s School of Chemical Engineering, the generator is powered by electricity and requires only water and captured carbon dioxide to create formate, the base compound for formic acid.  \u201cWith\u00a0basic\u00a0ingredients\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0push\u00a0of\u00a0a button,\u00a0we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"University of Queensland researchers have developed a new method to produce industrial chemicals commonly used in agriculture, textiles and pharmaceuticals with only carbon dioxide (CO\u2082), water and electricity","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,10416,19121,10743],"supplier":[1299],"class_list":["post-177842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-circulareconomy","tag-electrochemical","tag-useco2","supplier-university-of-queensland-australien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177846,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177842\/revisions\/177846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177842"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=177842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}