A new $45 million research effort, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide (GETCO2) was launched at the University of Queensland on Tuesday.
The GETCO2 has a seven-year term and involves seven Australian universities and industry partners. Its focus is on converting carbon dioxide “into products such as fuels and chemicals”, according to a statement from UQ.
“With electrochemical conversion, CO2 is transformed from being the biggest problem of our time to a valuable resource,” said Xiwang Zhang (pictured), a Professor from UQ’s School of Chemical Engineering and GETCO2’s leader.
“We’ve assembled world-leading experts with strong connections to industry along with talented early career researchers.
“The ground-breaking science being done at GETCO2 will point to a smart and clean path to net zero emissions by 2050 with Australia leading the way.”
Zhang and Dr Zhuyuan Wang have developed a “small, proof-of-concept nanogenerator” that is carbon negative, and which has earned the pair a spot as finalists in this year’s Eureka Prize for Innovative Research in Sustainability.
Industry partners to the new centre are listed as GrapheneX, Johnson Matthey and Zeotech.
Picture: supplied