Dioxycle

Much of the plastic found in garbage bags, milk containers, and wiring insulation, among many other products, comes from ethylene, a small molecule with an enormous carbon footprint. Steam crackers currently churn out more than 225 million metric tons (t) of ethylene annually in a carbon-intensive process that requires temperatures in excess of 750 °C and the feedstocks ethane or naphtha. The Paris-based start-up Dioxycle wants to slash the amount of fossil fuels needed to make ethylene by using waste carbon emissions as its feedstock in a process powered by renewable electricity. The company has designed an electrolyzer that converts carbon monoxide and water into ethylene and oxygen. The device can be coupled with other technology that converts carbon dioxide into CO. “The idea is simple,” Dioxycle cofounder and CEO Sarah Lamaison says. “We take carbon that we can recycle and turn that into ethylene.” Displacing the steam cracker and