Researchers create novel electro-biodiesel more efficient, cleaner than alternatives

Researchers in the labs of Joshua Yuan, at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and Susie Dai, at the University of Missouri, used electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide to turn carbon dioxide into intermediates that are then converted by microbes into lipids, or fatty acids, and ultimately became biodiesel feedstock. The process is much more efficient than photosynthesis and uses significantly less land than soybean-based biodiesel. (Image: Kainan Chen)

By Beth Miller November 15, 2024

Vehicles fueled by diesel lead to substantial carbon emissions that are challenging to decarbonize. In 2022, diesel fuel use made up about one-fourth of total U.S. transportation carbon dioxide emissions and about one-tenth of total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Joshua Yuan, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and Susie Dai, a MizzouForward Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Missouri, and their collaborators at Texas A&M University, have used electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide to create an electro-biodiesel that is 45 times more efficient and uses 45 times less land than soybean-based biodiesel production. Results of their work were published online Oct. 31 in Joule.

“This novel idea can be applied to the circular economy to manufacture emission-negative fuels, chemicals, materials and food ingredients at a much higher efficiency than photosynthesis and with fewer carbon emissions than petrochemicals,” said Yuan, who began the work with Dai at Texas A&M University. “We have systemically addressed the challenges in electro-biomanufacturing by identifying the metabolic and biochemical limits of diatomic carbon use and have overcome these limits.”

The team used electrocatalysis, a type of chemical reaction initiated by electron transfers to and from reactants on surfaces of catalysts, to convert carbon dioxide into biocompatible intermediates, such as acetate and ethanol. The intermediates were then converted by microbes into lipids, or fatty acids, and ultimately became biodiesel feedstock, said Yuan, who is also director of the National Science Foundation-funded Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization Engineering Research Center.

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