A research team at the Physics Department of UniTrento is working to transform carbon dioxide into a raw material for the chemical industry.
To support the effort, this year the European Commission funded a research project (Pioneer – Plasma catalysis for CO2 recycling and green chemistry, H2020) to ensure coordination at European level among different doctoral schools committed to train a new generation of researchers in the area of renewables. Trento is the only Italian university in the project and, to explore all options, has established several collaboration agreements at international level.
The research team is coordinated by Paolo Tosi, professor of experimental physics at the Physics Department and head of the Laboratory of atomic and molecular physics, and is focusing on methods to transform carbon dioxide from waste to resource.
Different methodologies exist, but the research team at UniTrento is planning to use electric charges to split carbon dioxide and promote its hydrogenation.
The press release includes comments from Paolo Tosi.