Converting carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas emissions into valuable organic products is one step toward mitigating the harmful environmental effects of emissions. A team of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that carbon monoxide is a more promising starting source for producing organic acids than carbon dioxide.
In research published online Aug. 5 in RSC Green Chemistry, Elijah Thimsen, an associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and Alcina Johnson Sudagar, a staff scientist in his lab, explored converting carbon monoxide to two industrially important organic acids using non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma in aqueous solutions. Their work highlights the significant increase in oxalic acid and formic acid yields from carbon monoxide compared with carbon dioxide, making the two-step conversion process from carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and subsequently to organic acids an attractive proposition.
