UQ Dow Centre

Carbon Dioxide Utilisation

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Creating a circular carbon economy to achieve a net-zero future

Circular carbon economy
Circular carbon economy

Increasing levels of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) has led to the increase occurrences of severe weather events like droughts, wildfires and floods.
Achieving net-zero emission of CO2 by 2050 will be critical to limit the devastating impacts of climate change.

The UQ Dow Centre Director, Professor Xiwang Zhang leads the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide (GETCO2), which is aimed to sustainably convert the abundant supply of CO2 to valuable products.

GETCO2 brings together high-profile researchers, government and industry leaders from around the world in a critical mass of expertise to tackle the world’s biggest challenge – carbon dioxide.

GETCO2 aims to advance electrochemistry innovations to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into valuable products, transitioning Australia to a carbon-neutral economy. See the circular carbon economy image above. The work of GETCO2 will assist Australia to meet national and international net-zero obligations. The Centre will train the next generation of highly skilled scientists and engineers, growing the future workforce, helping to reshape Australia’s energy and resource export industries for long-term resilience and growth.

Key focus areas of GETCO2

  • Advancing fundamental knowledge of CO2 conversion in electrochemical systems to selectively manufacture diverse value-added products;
  • Developing innovative electrolysers and key components (catalysts, membranes and electrodes) for highly efficient, scalable and durable electrochemical CO2 conversion;
  • Demonstrating CO2 conversion to value-added commodity and fine chemicals to enable industry-ready CO2 utilisation technologies supporting the emergent Australian circular carbon economy industry;
  • Training the next generation of highly skilled scientists and engineers, equipped with unique expertise in catalysis, materials and advanced manufacturing for CO2 research, development and deployment across Australian research communities and industries.

Key People