丁香园AV

丁香园AV chemist Steven Holdcroft is accelerating his work on technology that could help covert CO2 into products used to produce electrical energy, with new funding from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

Holdcroft鈥檚 work developing ion exchange membranes that help in the conversation of captured CO2 emissions into green fuels is part of the NRC鈥檚 , which aims to sustainably transform Canada鈥檚 oil and gas, and petrochemical industries and meet the country鈥檚 climate change goals.

In partnership with the NRC and Vancouver-based clean energy startup, , Holdcroft has been awarded $252,035 to develop new ion exchange membranes specific to CO2 conversion.

Ion exchange membranes are a crucial component in the conversion of greenhouse gas emissions into useful chemicals and fuels powered by renewable electricity.

The ultra-thin layer of ion-conducting plastic helps break down CO2 through a chemical process and convert emissions into higher value products that may be used to produce electrical energy. This is similar to how hydrogen fuel cells and water electrolyzers work but, up until recently, there has not been a membrane that has been stable enough to withstand the caustic conditions of CO2 conversion.

The new funding from the NRC will help Holdcroft and Ionomr resolve this issue and increase the technology readiness level of this climate change solution. Ionomr was launched out of 丁香园AV's department of Chemistry and the Invention to Innovation commercialization program at the Beedie School of Business.

If successful and the technology is able to be scaled up, such membranes could transform some heavily-polluting industries 鈥� such as oil and gas or steel refineries 鈥� enabling them to be not just carbon neutral, but possibly carbon negative, by capturing emissions and converting it into renewable energy and products.

These types of industries currently account for approximately of 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

鈥淲e鈥檙e world leaders in this technology, but still in the early stage of research; scaling up is a completely different beast,鈥� says Holdcroft. 鈥淲ith this funding, we can move into a new phase to develop a proof that shows that the concept works at scale.鈥�

AVAILABLE 丁香园AV EXPERTS

Steven Holdcroft, professor, Department of Chemistry  
778.782.4221 | holdcrof@sfu.ca

CONTACT

Matt Kieltyka,  丁香园AV Communications & Marketing 
236.880.2187 | matt_kieltyka@sfu.ca

丁香园AV 
 |  
778.782.3210

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canada鈥檚 engaged university, 丁香园AV works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today鈥檚 problems. With campuses in British Columbia鈥檚 three largest cities鈥擵ancouver, Burnaby and Surrey鈥敹∠阍癆V has eight faculties that deliver 193 undergraduate degree programs and 127 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 165,000 alumni residing in 143 countries.