Organic Electrosynthesis for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing

Blanco, Daniela E.; Modestino, Miguel A.

doi:10.1016/j.trechm.2019.01.001

Cited by 77 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…1,2 Bubbles are also formed in a multitude of emerging electrochemical processes for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals (e.g., water splitting, CO2 electroreduction, or organic electrosynthesis). 3,4,5,6,7,8 The most common gas evolving electrochemical reactions include hydrogen or oxygen evolution from water splitting, chlorine generation from chloride oxidation, direct methanol fuel cells or carbon dioxide (CO2) generation from sacrificial carbon electrodes. 3,4,5,9,10 It is often the case that desired reductions or oxidations are coupled with one of these gas-evolving redox transformations as a sacrificial reaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Bubbles on the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Electrochemical Reactors

Angulo

Linde

Gardeniers

et al. 2020

Joule

523

374

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Bubbles are known to influence energy and mass transfer in gas evolving electrodes. However, we lack a detailed understanding on the intricate dependencies between bubble evolution processes and electrochemical phenomena.This review discusses our current knowledge on the effects of bubbles on electrochemical systems with the aim to identify opportunities and motivate future research in this area. We first provide a base background on the physics of bubble evolution as it relates to electrochemical processes. Then we outline how bubbles affect energy efficiency of electrode processes, detailing the bubble-induced impacts on activation, ohmic and concentration overpotentials.Lastly, we describe different strategies to mitigate losses and how to exploit bubbles to enhance electrochemical reactions. Context & ScaleElectrochemical reactors will play a key role in the electrification of the chemical industry and can enable the integration of renewable electricity sources with chemical manufacturing. Most large-scale industrial electrochemical processes, including chloro-alkali and aluminum production, involve gas evolving electrodes. The evolution of bubbles at the surface of redox reaction sites often lead to the reduction of the active electrode area, the increase of ohmic resistance in the electrolyte and the formation of undesirable concentration gradients. All of these effects result in energy losses which reduce the efficiency of electrochemical systems. This review synthesizes our current understanding on the relationship between bubble evolution and energy losses in electrochemical reactors. By presenting a thorough account on the state of the research in this area, we aim to provide a common ground for the research community to improve our understanding on the complex processes involved in multiphase electrochemical systems. Increasing our knowledge on the relationship between bubbles and electrochemistry will lead to new strategies to mitigate and exploit bubble-induced phenomena leading to design guidelines for high-performing electrochemical reactors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Bubbles on the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Electrochemical Reactors

Angulo

Linde

Gardeniers

et al. 2020

Joule

523

374

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…organic electrosynthesis | neural network | voltage dosing | electrochemical pulse techniques | artificial intelligence T he electrification of the chemical industry is a major step in the integration of renewable electricity in the industrial sector (1,2). Such an endeavor can be achieved through the implementation of scalable electrochemical processes for chemical manufacturing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organic electrosynthetic processes offer synthetic routes that rely on more environmentally benign reacting media, often waterbased electrolytes, and require mild pressures and temperatures for operation. However, severe obstacles are faced given the low reactant solubility in water, the limited electrochemical stability of the electrolyte, and the difficulty in controlling multiple reaction pathways (1,8) (Fig. 1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing organic electrosynthesis through controlled voltage dosing and artificial intelligence

Blanco

Lee

Modestino

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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116

105

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Organic electrosynthesis can transform the chemical industry by introducing electricity-driven processes that are more energy efficient and that can be easily integrated with renewable energy sources. However, their deployment is severely hindered by the difficulties of controlling selectivity and achieving a large energy conversion efficiency at high current density due to the low solubility of organic reactants in practical electrolytes. This control can be improved by carefully balancing the mass transport processes and electrocatalytic reaction rates at the electrode diffusion layer through pulsed electrochemical methods. In this study, we explore these methods in the context of the electrosynthesis of adiponitrile (ADN), the largest organic electrochemical process in industry. Systematically exploring voltage pulses in the timescale between 5 and 150 ms led to a 20% increase in production of ADN and a 250% increase in relative selectivity with respect to the state-of-the-art constant voltage process. Moreover, combining this systematic experimental investigation with artificial intelligence (AI) tools allowed us to rapidly discover drastically improved electrosynthetic conditions, reaching improvements of 30 and 325% in ADN production rates and selectivity, respectively. This powerful AI-enhanced experimental approach represents a paradigm shift in the design of electrified chemical transformations, which can accelerate the deployment of more sustainable electrochemical manufacturing processes.

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“…Importantly, how to incentivize ES may also differ between commodity versus specialty industries. In commodity industries, such as steel, cement, or synthetic polymers ( Blanco and Modestino, 2019 ) changes in processes are typically made on the basis of unit cost, whereas in specialty industries, such as pharmaceuticals, new reactivity is key for adopting new processes ( Kawamata and Baran, 2020 ; Tanbouza et al., 2020 ). Consequently, policy measures affecting production cost might be more relevant for commodity industries compared with specialty industries, which might be better incentivized by interdisciplinary research, crossing the boundaries of energy and chemical sciences ( Kawamata and Baran, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spurring low-carbon electrosynthesis through energy and innovation policy

Schmidt

2021

iScience

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Summary Reaching the climate targets set in the Paris Agreement on climate change requires decarbonizing all parts of the global economy. The electrification of industry processes—and more specifically, electrosynthesis (ES)—is an important decarbonization mechanism. To tap into this mechanism's potential and accelerate the decarbonization of these processes, I argue that public policy needs to perform two tasks. First, energy policy needs to enable the provision of CO 2 emissions-free baseload electricity. Second, innovation policy needs to accelerate cost reductions for ES. Here, I discuss why this is the case, what the challenges are, how policy makers can address them, and how political ambition can be increased.

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Organic Electrosynthesis for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing

Cited by 77 publications

References 6 publications

Influence of Bubbles on the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Electrochemical Reactors

Influence of Bubbles on the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Electrochemical Reactors

Optimizing organic electrosynthesis through controlled voltage dosing and artificial intelligence

Spurring low-carbon electrosynthesis through energy and innovation policy

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