{"id":52354,"date":"2026-10-22T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T21:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=52354"},"modified":"2026-10-19T08:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T12:25:03","slug":"in-japan-researchers-led-by-tohoku-university-used-an-inexpensive-blue-pigment-to-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-methane-with-79-5-faradaic-efficiency-and-methane-selectivity-stayed-above-60-for-about-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/in-japan-researchers-led-by-tohoku-university-used-an-inexpensive-blue-pigment-to-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-methane-with-79-5-faradaic-efficiency-and-methane-selectivity-stayed-above-60-for-about-80\/52354\/","title":{"rendered":"In Japan, researchers led by Tohoku University used an inexpensive blue pigment to turn carbon dioxide into methane with 79.5% Faradaic efficiency, and methane selectivity stayed above 60% for about 80 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An inexpensive blue pigment has helped researchers in Japan turn carbon dioxide into methane in a single electrochemical process. The laboratory advance points to a possible way to recycle captured carbon into fuel<\/a>, using a catalyst made from a readily available material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team, led by Tohoku University\u2019s Advanced Institute for Materials Research, worked with Hokkaido University and startup AZUL Energy. Their study<\/a> appeared in the journal Small on August 2, 2026, and the university highlighted the findings in a September 7 announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the 79.5% efficiency figure really means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The catalyst reached a maximum methane Faradaic efficiency of 79.5%. In everyday terms, that means nearly four-fifths of the electrical charge used in the reaction went toward producing methane at peak selectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that figure does not mean the system converted 79.5% of its electricity into usable fuel energy, or that it removed 79.5% of incoming CO\u2082. Those are different measurements, and the distinction matters when judging whether a laboratory result could become a practical energy technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also reported a maximum methane partial current density of 575 milliamps per square centimeter, a measure of production rate relative to electrode area. In a separate durability test at 150 milliamps per square centimeter, methane selectivity stayed above 60% for about 80 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the blue pigment helps make methane<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The material is copper phthalocyanine, an inexpensive blue pigment that the researchers supported on carbon and applied to a gas diffusion electrode. This arrangement helps deliver gaseous CO\u2082 to the reaction zone, where electricity drives its conversion into methane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does the catalyst matter so much? CO\u2082 can follow several reaction routes, and conventional copper catalysts may produce a mixture of carbon-containing products<\/a> that must later be separated. Favoring methane could simplify that cleanup and reduce some of the associated energy demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConverting CO\u2082 directly into CH\u2084 in a single, high-efficiency step has been a significant hurdle in carbon recycling,\u201d said Tohoku professor Hiroshi Yabu. He described the pigment\u2019s low cost and availability as features that could help make the approach more practical to scale up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single process still involves complex chemistry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The phrase \u201cone step\u201d describes the overall electrochemical conversion, rather than a single molecular reaction. At the microscopic level, turning CO\u2082 into methane requires a sequence of chemical changes, with several opportunities for the reaction to head in another direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To investigate that chemistry, the researchers compared copper phthalocyanine with a related copper molecular catalyst and ran theoretical calculations. Their results suggest that the pigment\u2019s molecular structure helps provide a more favorable pathway toward methane, although calculations do not settle every detail of how a working catalyst behaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The durability result is encouraging, too, but 80 hours is only a little over three days. It demonstrates sustained laboratory operation under the tested conditions, while leaving longer service life and performance in larger equipment to be established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recycling carbon comes with a climate condition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Methane is attractive because it is already widely used as a fuel and could potentially fit into existing gas infrastructure<\/a>. That connects the research to familiar energy needs, including heating buildings and supplying industrial heat, with an established market for the resulting fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But turning CO\u2082 into methane does not permanently lock away the carbon. Burning that methane releases CO\u2082 again, so any climate benefit would depend on the full cycle<\/a>, including access to low-carbon electricity and whether the recycled fuel replaces newly extracted fossil fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methane leakage<\/a> also matters because methane itself is a powerful greenhouse gas. The environmental question therefore extends beyond how much fuel the electrode makes to how the gas is produced, handled, and ultimately used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next test moves closer to industrial emissions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The researchers plan to test their catalyst in an electrolyzer using CO\u2082 captured from actual industrial emissions. They also want to investigate carbon dioxide recovered from the atmosphere through direct air capture<\/a>, broadening the possible sources of carbon for the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those plans help show what remains to be demonstrated. The team has achieved promising catalyst performance, but further work is needed to establish how the technology will perform in those proposed applications and whether it can produce competitively priced methane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a future operator, the electric bill and equipment lifetime would matter alongside the price of the blue pigment. The most recent official press release was published on September 7, 2026, on Tohoku University\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Hiroshi Yabu et al.\/Tohoku University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An inexpensive blue pigment has helped researchers in Japan turn carbon dioxide into methane in a single electrochemical process. The … <\/p>\n

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