Transportation Fuels

Pacific Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) will develop a novel synthetic pathway to create methane fuel from carbon dioxide (CO2) at room temperature. Leveraging their expertise in inorganic materials synthesis and catalyst development, PIDC’s CO2-to-fuel conversion process could help drive down emissions and increase energy efficiency when implemented at scale at a target cost of $50 per kilogram.

Johns Hopkins University will develop a process using new electrocatalysts to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, that could accelerate the development of chemicals and food. The novel process would synthesize amino acids using chemical feedstocks that can be derived from merely air, water, and renewable electricity to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions in food and chemical production.

Northeastern University will develop a computer model that could identify new avenues for producing essential chemical ingredients using carbon dioxide, a waste product of fossil fuels. Computer modeling would save time and money compared with running experiments that often focus on a single reaction pathway, whereas computer models seamlessly detect promising pathways from thousands of options. The project’s first steps will focus on producing propanol, a useful hydrocarbon found in cosmetics, cleaning, printing, motors, and other products.