Electrolysis of carbon dioxide in aqueous media to carbon monoxide and hydrogen for production of methanol

An environmentally beneficial method of producing methanol by recycling and reductive conversion of any available source of carbon dioxide, which comprises:

• providing a divided electrochemical cell comprising an anode in a first cell compartment and a noble metal cathode electrode in a second cell compartment, with the second cell compartment also containing an aqueous solution or aqueous methanolic solution of an electrolyte of one or more tetrabutylammonium halides or alkali carbonates;
• recycling carbon dioxide from an existing source into the second cell compartment;
• electrochemically reducing the recycled carbon dioxide and solution in the second cell compartment by applying a voltage to produce therein a reaction mixture containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas with the reaction mixture containing excess amounts of hydrogen gas without adding hydrogen from outside of the electrochemical cell while also producing oxygen at the anode in the first cell compartment;
• and
• obtaining the carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas of the reaction mixture from the second cell compartment and directly reacting the reaction mixture in the presence of a catalyst to produce methanol while producing the oxygen in the first cell compartment at the anode to benefit the environment by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide.