ABOUT THE PROJECT

Fossil fuels and petrochemicals are the foundation of everyday plastics and chemicals. Replacing them with electrofuels—made from electricity, recycled carbon dioxide, and water—to produce these products can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and help reach net zero by 2050.

CERT Systems Inc. has developed an electrochemical process that converts captured carbon dioxide into basic chemicals. Unlike many carbon utilization approaches which require highly-purified CO2 gas, CERT Systems’ process can directly use the CO2 captured in liquid media, eliminating the majority of energy costs associated with direct air capture. CERT Systems directly converts carbon emissions into molecules that are chemically identical to those typically derived from fossil fuels and are the building blocks of everyday products, like plastics.

CERT Systems’ current focus is on transforming CO2 into ethylene, which can then be used for a broad range of applications including plastics, textiles, and sustainable aviation fuels. Once fully developed, their process could reduce annual emissions by one gigaton.