Challenges and opportunities for CO2 electroreduction from a process systems engineering perspective

Despite the huge efforts devoted to the development of the electrochemical reduction of CO2 (ECO2R) in the past decade, still many challenges are present, hindering further approaches to industrial applications. This paper gives a perspective on these challenges from a Process Systems Engineering (PSE) standpoint, while at the same time...

Impact of intermittent electricity supply on a conceptual process design for microbial conversion of CO₂ into hexanoic acid

Combining intermittent renewable electricity (IRE) with carbon capture and utilisation is urgently needed in the chemical sector. In this context, microbial electrosynthesis (MES) has gained attention. It can electrochemically produce hexanoic acid, a value-added chemical, from CO₂. However, there is a lack of understanding...

Techno-economic Assessment of CO₂ Electrolysis: How Interdependencies between Model Variables Propagate Across Different Modeling Scales

The production of base chemicals by electrochemical conversion of captured CO₂ has the potential to close the carbon cycle, thereby contributing to a future energy transition. With the feasibility of low-temperature electrochemical CO₂ conversion demonstrated at lab scale, research is shifting toward optimizing...

Evaluation of centralized/decentralized configuration schemes of CO2 electrochemical reduction-based supply chains

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2ER) is an emerging technology with the potential to limit the use of fossil-based feedstocks in the petrochemical industry by converting CO2 and renewable electricity into useful products such as syngas. Its successful deployment will depend not only on the technology's performance but also on its integration...

An Educational Workshop for Effective PSE Course Development

An educational workshop for developing Process Systems Engineering (PSE) courses will be held during ESCAPE-33, following the model workshop that was run during the CAPE Forum 2022 held at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. This 3-hour workshop distributes the participants into four teams working together to develop the outline of...

Evaluation of alternative carbon based ethylene production in a petrochemical cluster: Technology screening & value chain impact assessment

Due to the heavy dependence on fossil-fuels as raw materials, the defossilization of feedstocks in the petrochemical industry represents a challenge. A large number of possible process routes that use alternative carbon sources (ACS) like CO2, biomass, and waste are being developed for the feedstock replacement. For instance, to produce ethylene...

Impacts of defossilising downstream derivatives in petrochemical clusters – MTBE case study

Using alternative carbon sources (ACS) to produce downstream derivatives (DDs) is a promising option for defossilising the chemical industry. However, the potential consequences of using ACS in interconnected petrochemical clusters are generally overlooked. This paper aims to develop a methodological approach for systematically analysing...

Conceptual design of pre-treatment units for co-electrolysis of CO₂ and water

Reaching our climate goals will require urgent advancements in the development of fossil-free technologies. Solid-oxide electrolysis (SOE) at high-temperature is a promising candidate for combining CO₂ utilization and renewable electricity use. Explorative techno-economic analyses are being performed to understand the full plant design...

Degradation study of a reversible solid oxide cell (rSOC) short stack using distribution of relaxation times (DRT) analysis

Reversible solid oxide cells (rSOC) can convert excess electricity to valuable fuels in electrolysis cell mode (SOEC) and reverse the reaction in fuel cell mode (SOFC). In this work, a five – cell rSOC short stack, integrating fuel electrode (Ni-YSZ) supported solid oxide cells (Ni-YSZ || YSZ | CGO || LSC-CGO) with an active area of 100 cm2, is...

Sustainable Design of Multiscale CO2 Electrochemical Conversion

The storage of renewable electricity in chemical bonds is a compelling technological option that combines flexibility with the synthesis of high energy-dense fuels and chemicals and may use CO2 as raw material. The electrochemical conversion of CO2 is not yet a mature technology. Both fields, electrochemical conversion and carbon dioxide...

Editorial: Perspectives of Chemicals Synthesis as a Green Alternative to Fossil Fuels