Shifting towards a circular carbon economy in the face of rising global population and diminishing natural reserves represents one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. To that end, expanding capacity and decreasing costs for renewable electricity invite the exploration of new routes to utilize this energy for the sustainable production of fuels, chemicals, and materials, thus transferring the rapid decarbonization of the electrical grid to other sectors such as transportation and manufacturing. Electricity-driven conversion of CO₂ and biomass-derived substrates represent two of these potential routes, but face both technical and economic hurdles. This presentation will discuss recent advances in CO₂ reduction across direct and indirect technologies (i.e., electrolysis, microbial electrosynthesis, biological conversion, and thermochemical conversion) [1, 2] and low-temperature, reductive and oxidative electrochemical valorization of biomass-derived intermediates [3], identify key technical barriers for these technologies, and highlight critical economic and environmental considerations. A case study for converting CO₂ into sustainable aviation fuel will also be highlighted.

[1] R. G. Grim, Z. Huang, M. Guarnieri, J. Ferrell, L. Tao, J. Schaidle, Energy Environ. Sci. 2020, 13, 472-494.

[2] Z. Huang, R. G. Grim, J. Schaidle, L. Tao, Energy Environ. Sci. 2021, 14, 3664-3678.

[3] F. Lucas, R. G. Grim, S. Tacey, C. Downes, J. Hasse, A. Roman, C. Farberow, J. Schaidle, A. Holewinski, ACS Energy Letters 2021, 6, 1205-1270.