EPiCX is aimed at the production of fuels by using carbon dioxide (CO2), through the development of electro- and photoelectro- catalytic processes, with the aim of exploiting abundant and widespread solar energy to promote the synthesis of high added-value chemical compounds (e.g. methane, syngas, etc..), and simultaneously hamper the anthropic environmental impact resulting from CO2 emissions.
Being the poor solubility of of gaseous CO2 among the main bottlenecks of its reduction in acqueous electrolytes, within EPiCX we will explore novel and extreme environmental conditions for the improvement of the CO2 feedstock availability, e.g. liquid CO2-based electrolytes.
Despite the challenging low temperature requirement (-30°C) to achieve such conditions, this is naturally available in a large portion, whereas often neglected, of earth crust, namely polar and subpolar regions.
Thus, the developed process will contribute to the decarbonization of the economy and the reduction of emissions through a circular approach in these delicate environements, while exploiting the naturally unusual environenmental conditions.