eCO₂EP was a 3.5-year programme which ran from January 2018 to June 2021. eCO₂EP brought together researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of California, Berkeley, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to develop ways of transforming carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted as part of the industrial process into compounds that are useful in the chemical industry supply chain.

Singapore’s National Research Foundation funded the project within the Intra-CREATE programme. eCO₂EP was co-led by Prof. Alexei Lapkin, from Cambridge’s Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES Ltd), and Prof. Joel Ager, from the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS Ltd).

The aim of the eCO₂EP project was to produce a “table-top chemical factory” that uses electrochemical processes to convert CO₂ into ethylene or to 1-propanol – two molecular products widely used in the chemical industry. Earlier research carried out at CREATE demonstrated that CO₂ molecules can be transformed into hydrocarbons through the application of electricity. Intra-CREATE’s research studied the viability of large-scale CO₂ reduction processes, including the use of off-peak renewable electricity in areas with excess capacity. The project allowed the exploration of a new energy-chemistry solution for a more sustainable future.

This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.