Techno-economic Analysis and Carbon Footprint Accounting for Industrial CO₂ Electrolysis Systems

Abstract

Currently, CO 2 electrolysis technologies are widely investigated in the laboratory, while pilot-scale applications are absence. To promote its industrialization, herein, we establish a complete workflow of the CO 2 electrolysis system and carry out a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of four main products: formic acid, carbon monoxide, ethanol, and ethylene. In the current scenario, the levelized cost of formic acid and carbon monoxide is $0.468/kg and $0.449/kg, respectively, which rivals conventional methods (formic acid, $0.683/kg; carbon monoxide, $0.6/kg), while that of ethanol and ethylene is not yet competitive. To improve the economic feasibility of multicarbon products, improved faradaic efficiency of the solo product and reduced cell voltage and electricity prices should be achieved. In particular, the production process of the most economically efficient product formic acid has been optimized using heat-pump-assisted pressure swing distillation (HPA-PSD) to reduce its separation energy consumption. Significantly, on the basis of carbon footprint accounting, a carbon-negative effect could be achieved by coupling the formic acid production from CO 2 electrolysis with concentrating solar power.

Review on CO2 Management: From CO2 Sources, Capture, and Conversion to Future Perspectives of Gas-Phase Electrochemical Conversion and Utilization

“…In view of the techno-economic efficiency of CO 2 electrolysis, the existing technology for the large-scale production of chemicals from CO 2 is not sufficient. The techno-economic analysis of electrochemical CO 2 reduction systems for the production of various CO 2 reduction products has shown that under current technologies, carbon monoxide and formic acid are the only economically sustainable products. ,,, CO 2 losses in natural-membrane-based cells and carbonate formation in alkaline electrolytes decrease the efficiency of CO 2 reduction. Even with an efficiency of 1:1 CO 2 lost:CO 2 conversion, about >65% electrical energy efficiency (eEE) is required to produce 1 ton of ethylene at a cost of $1,000 .…”

“…The major challenge is the development of powerful equipment to produce chemicals from CO 2 on a large scale at a competitive cost compared with other chemical resources. Techno-economically, using currently available technologies, the cost of fuels from CO 2 is more expensive than the conventional fossil fuel competitors. − Since CO 2 has a high impact on our environment, the above and following discussions on the CO 2 challenges and its management have been individually reviewed by other research groups. ,− Nevertheless, many review papers usually consider CO 2 from a distinctive view of its challenges, such as reaction mechanisms and process engineering, capture and separation technologies, thermal, plasma, photocatalytic, and photochemical CO 2 conversions, enzymatic- and biological-mediated CO 2 biofixation, etc. On the other hand, some reviews have focused on solid oxide electrolytes, electrode engineering such as design of GDEs, , membrane electrode assembly, specific catalysts, , and so on in electrochemical CO 2 conversion.…”

2023 Pioneers in Energy Research: Shizhang Qiao

“…This work proposes useful interface-engineering strategies for tuning the relevant device performance. To promote the industrialization of CO 2 electrolysis technologies, Gao et al carried out a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of four products: formic acid, carbon monoxide, ethanol, and ethylene. The production process of the most economically efficient product (formic acid) has been optimized using heat-pump-assisted pressure swing distillation.…”

Geochemical Impact of High-Concentration Formate Solution Injection on Rock Wettability for Enhanced Oil Recovery and Geologic Carbon Storage

“…In the best scenario, the energy consumption associated with the CO 2 reduction reaction is approximately 4.5–4.7 kWh/kg HCOOH, , with estimated consumption rates of 0.95 kg CO 2 /kg HCOOH and 0.60 kg H 2 O/kg HCOOH . Under these conditions, the overall production cost is estimated to be approximately $0.46–0.75/kg HCOOH at an industrial concentration of 85 wt %, , which is competitive with the current market price of $0.68–1/kg HCOOH. , …”