Greenhouse gases are often seen as one of humanity’s greatest challenges. Rising carbon dioxide levels fuel climate change, trapping heat in the atmosphere and disrupting ecosystems worldwide. But what if those harmful emissions could be transformed into something valuable, something that industries could actually use? Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are exploring precisely that possibility—converting waste gases into useful organic products that could reshape our approach to sustainability.
At the heart of this breakthrough is carbon monoxide, a gas often associated with pollution and toxicity. Yet in the right hands, it becomes a powerful building block for creating organic acids—substances that play critical roles in manufacturing, agriculture, and even medicine. This research suggests that carbon monoxide, rather than carbon dioxide, might be the more promising gateway toward unlocking new solutions for emissions control.
From Problem to Possibility
The study, led by Elijah Thimsen and staff scientist Alcina Johnson Sudagar, takes a fresh look at how we might repurpose greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, abundant in the atmosphere and notoriously difficult to manage, has long been the focus of carbon-capture research. However, converting it directly into useful products has proven tricky, requiring high energy inputs, catalysts, or harsh conditions that limit efficiency.
By shifting attention to carbon monoxide, the researchers uncovered a more productive pathway. Using a non-thermal plasma system operating at atmospheric pressure, they converted carbon monoxide into two valuable organic acids: oxalic acid and formic acid. These compounds are widely used in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to textiles, and they serve as key intermediates for countless chemical processes.
The remarkable part? This process does not demand extreme pressures or high temperatures. Instead, the plasma-liquid system creates conditions where reactions happen cleanly and efficiently in water, without the need for expensive chemical activators. In other words, it’s a greener, more cost-effective method.
How Plasma Unlocks Potential
Plasma is often described as the fourth state of matter, a charged environment where gases become highly reactive. In this case, the plasma acts as a spark, triggering chemical transformations between carbon monoxide and water molecules. As the reaction unfolds, hydrogen gas and dissolved carbon dioxide emerge alongside organic acids, making the system both dynamic and versatile.
One of the study’s key findings was that reaction conditions—such as temperature and pH—play an essential role. Thermodynamic analysis showed that creating organic acids from carbon monoxide releases heat but requires energy to proceed, while breaking them down does the opposite. To tilt the balance in favor of synthesis, the team discovered that lowering the temperature was crucial. Moreover, working under alkaline conditions, where the solution has a higher pH, dramatically boosted the production of organic acid intermediates.
These insights reveal how delicate and precise the process must be, but also how much control scientists can gain by tuning the system.
Why This Matters
The implications of this research reach far beyond the lab. If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide can be captured and converted first into carbon monoxide, and then into organic acids, industries could gain access to sustainable raw materials while simultaneously reducing emissions. Instead of seeing carbon dioxide purely as waste, we could treat it as a resource—a raw ingredient for the chemical economy of the future.
Organic acids are already essential to modern life. Oxalic acid, for example, is used in cleaning and rust removal, while formic acid finds applications in livestock feed, leather processing, and renewable energy storage. Producing these acids from waste gases could decrease reliance on fossil fuels and cut down on environmentally harmful chemical production methods.
A Step Toward Sustainable Chemistry
Perhaps the most exciting part of this discovery is not just the products themselves but the broader vision it represents. Converting carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals through a two-step process—first into carbon monoxide, then into organic acids—demonstrates that climate solutions can be innovative as well as practical.
This approach embodies the spirit of sustainable chemistry, where scientific ingenuity transforms environmental problems into opportunities. By refining the plasma-liquid process and scaling it up, industries could one day adopt this technology as part of global strategies to cut emissions and build greener economies.
Looking Ahead
There is still much to learn. Questions remain about how to optimize the process for industrial use, how to manage costs at scale, and how to integrate this pathway into existing carbon-capture systems. But the research shows a clear direction: that reimagining waste as resource could fundamentally shift how humanity addresses the climate crisis.
As Sudagar explained, the plasma system not only avoids harsh conditions but also demonstrates that chemistry can be both efficient and environmentally responsible. This vision aligns with the urgent need to build technologies that are not just technically feasible, but sustainable and scalable.
In a world grappling with rising emissions and their global consequences, the promise of turning harmful greenhouse gases into valuable products is more than an intriguing scientific development—it is a beacon of hope. It reminds us that even the gases choking our atmosphere may hold the seeds of a cleaner, more resilient future.
More information: Alcina Johnson Sudagar et al, Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma–liquid synthesis of organic acids in aqueous solution from carbon monoxide, Green Chemistry (2025). DOI: 10.1039/d5gc02035b
