scholarly journals Flexible operation of modular electrochemical CO2 reduction processes

Author(s):  
Kosan Roh ◽  
Luisa Brée ◽  
Pascal Schäfer ◽  
Daniel Strohmeier ◽  
Alexander Mitsos

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (eCO2R) is an emerging technology that is capable of producing various organic chemicals from CO2, but its high electricity cost is a big economic obstacle. One solution to reduce the cumulative electricity cost is demand side management, i.e., to adjust the power load based on time-variant electricity prices. However, varying the power load of CO2-electrolyzers often leads to changes in Faraday efficiency towards target components and thereby influences the product composition. Such deviations from the target product composition may be undesired for downstream processes. We tackle this challenge by proposing a flexible operating scheme for a modular eCO2R process. We formulate the economically optimal operation of an eCO2R process with multiple electrolyzer stacks as a parallel-machine scheduling problem. Adjusting the power load of each sub-process properly, we can save electricity costs while the desired product composition is met at any time. We apply an algorithm based on wavelet transform to solve the resulting large-scale nonlinear scheduling problem in tractable time. We solve each optimization problem with a deterministic global optimization software MAiNGO. We examine flexible operation of a modular eCO2R process for syngas production. The case studies show that the modular structure enables savings in the cumulative electricity cost of the eCO2R process via flexible operation while deviations in the syngas composition could be reduced. Also, the maximum ramping speed of the entire process is found to be a key parameter that strongly influences the cost saving.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. 4562-4570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saira Ajmal ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Muhammad Ali Tahir ◽  
Kejian Li ◽  
Aziz-Ur-Rahim Bacha ◽  
...  

Exclusive C2 selectivity of Cu-Nplates over C1 during electrocatalytic CO2 reduction offers opportunities for large scale, long-term renewable energy storage and lessens carbon emissions.


Author(s):  
Peter T. Smith ◽  
Sophia Weng ◽  
Christopher Chang

We present a bioinspired strategy for enhancing electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction catalysis by cooperative use of base-metal molecular catalysts with intermolecular second-sphere redox mediators that facilitate both electron and proton transfer. Functional synthetic mimics of the biological redox cofactor NADH, which are electrochemically stable and are capable of mediating both electron and proton transfer, can enhance the activity of an iron porphyrin catalyst for electrochemical reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> to CO, achieving a 13-fold rate improvement without altering the intrinsic high selectivity of this catalyst platform for CO<sub>2</sub> versus proton reduction. Evaluation of a systematic series of NADH analogs and redox-inactive control additives with varying proton and electron reservoir properties reveals that both electron and proton transfer contribute to the observed catalytic enhancements. This work establishes that second-sphere dual control of electron and proton inventories is a viable design strategy for developing more effective electrocatalysts for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction, providing a starting point for broader applications of this approach to other multi-electron, multi-proton transformations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 154-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianglong Lu ◽  
Tianshui Yu ◽  
Hailing Wang ◽  
Lihua Qian ◽  
Ruichun Luo ◽  
...  

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Hilmar Guzmán ◽  
Federica Zammillo ◽  
Daniela Roldán ◽  
Camilla Galletti ◽  
Nunzio Russo ◽  
...  

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is a promising carbon capture and utilisation technology. Herein, a continuous flow gas diffusion electrode (GDE)-cell configuration has been studied to convert CO2 via electrochemical reduction under atmospheric conditions. To this purpose, Cu-based electrocatalysts immobilised on a porous and conductive GDE have been tested. Many system variables have been evaluated to find the most promising conditions able to lead to increased production of CO2 reduction liquid products, specifically: applied potentials, catalyst loading, Nafion content, KHCO3 electrolyte concentration, and the presence of metal oxides, like ZnO or/and Al2O3. In particular, the CO productivity increased at the lowest Nafion content of 15%, leading to syngas with an H2/CO ratio of ~1. Meanwhile, at the highest Nafion content (45%), C2+ products formation has been increased, and the CO selectivity has been decreased by 80%. The reported results revealed that the liquid crossover through the GDE highly impacts CO2 diffusion to the catalyst active sites, thus reducing the CO2 conversion efficiency. Through mathematical modelling, it has been confirmed that the increase of the local pH, coupled to the electrode-wetting, promotes the formation of bicarbonate species that deactivate the catalysts surface, hindering the mechanisms for the C2+ liquid products generation. These results want to shine the spotlight on kinetics and transport limitations, shifting the focus from catalytic activity of materials to other involved factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 3843-3850
Author(s):  
Ashwin Chaturvedi ◽  
Caroline K. Williams ◽  
Nilakshi Devi ◽  
Jianbing “Jimmy” Jiang

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document