Evaluation of energy requirements for chemicals and fuels manufactured via electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide
Riccardo Dal Mas (TU Delft - ChemE/Process Systems Engineering)
Ana Somoza-Tornos (TU Delft - ChemE/Process Systems Engineering)
Anton A. Kiss (TU Delft - ChemE/Process Systems Engineering)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
As the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions increases, the chemical industry is moving towards more sustainable applications, such as substituting fossil feedstock with renewable ones. The development and implementation of novel technologies will entail momentous, system-wide changes to allow for the production of chemicals and fuels. This work aims at providing an overview of the energy requirements for the production of several chemicals by means of electrochemical reduction of CO2 (ECO2R), in order to aid the decision-making process to select the products on which further research and development efforts should focus.
The results demonstrate that the production of C1 oxygenated molecules, such as carbon monoxide and methanol, via ECO2R would have significantly lower requirements in terms of renewable energy generation when compared to fully reduced hydrocarbons (methane, ethylene) and ethanol. This would lead to a less demanding implementation of electrochemical CO2 utilisation technologies, allowing for a more streamlined deployment of ECO2R within existing supply chains.