Intermittent Operation of CO<sub>2</sub> Electrolyzers at Industrially Relevant Current Densities

Samu, A.; Kormányos, Attila; Kecsenovity, Egon; Szilágyi, Norbert; Endrődi, Balázs; Janáky, Csaba

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00923

Cited by 36 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Due to the low number of case studies on altering operational and regenerative voltages as well as cycle durations, there is plenty of room for further investigation using this approach. To complement the relevance of this direction of research, future CO 2 electrolyzers are likely required to operate intermittently to account for fluctuating power generation from renewable sources . However, there may then be too many operational constraints from both the electrolyzer and system perspective to optimize both fully …”

Section: Active Pulse Approach: Pulsed Electrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

et al. 2022

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Salt precipitation is a problem in electrochemical CO 2 reduction electrolyzers that limits their long-term durability and industrial applicability by reducing the active area, causing flooding and hindering gas transport. Salt crystals form when hydroxide generation from electrochemical reactions interacts homogeneously with CO 2 to generate substantial quantities of carbonate. In the presence of sufficient electrolyte cations, the solubility limits of these species are reached, resulting in "salting out" conditions in cathode compartments. Detrimental salt precipitation is regularly observed in zero-gap membrane electrode assemblies, especially when operated at high current densities. This Perspective briefly discusses the mechanisms for salt formation, and recently reported strategies for preventing or reversing salt formation in zero-gap CO 2 reduction membrane electrode assemblies. We link these approaches to the solubility limit of potassium carbonate within the electrolyzer and describe how each strategy separately manipulates water, potassium, and carbonate concentrations to prevent (or mitigate) salt formation.

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Section: Active Pulse Approach: Pulsed Electrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

et al. 2022

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“…Electrochemical CO 2 reduction (CO 2 R) might be a key technology in our efforts to de-fossilize the chemical industry and transport sector with renewable electricity generated by wind or solar power. , This process could convert CO 2 , which has been captured from point sources or directly from the atmosphere, − to useful chemical intermediates. Depending on the catalyst, common target intermediates include CO (Ag), , C 2 H 4 (Cu), , or HCOOH (Sn). , Recently, the production of methanol and/or ethanol has been demonstrated with Cu 2 O/ZnO catalysts , or metal–organic frameworks. − These conversion products could then be further upgraded to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels or plastics aiming for a CO 2 neutral process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 1 , 2 This process could convert CO 2 , which has been captured from point sources or directly from the atmosphere, 3 − 5 to useful chemical intermediates. Depending on the catalyst, common target intermediates include CO (Ag), 6 , 7 C 2 H 4 (Cu), 8 , 9 or HCOOH (Sn). 10 , 11 Recently, the production of methanol and/or ethanol has been demonstrated with Cu 2 O/ZnO catalysts 12 , 13 or metal–organic frameworks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Flooding Is Not Catastrophic─Woven Gas Diffusion Electrodes Enable Stable CO₂ Electrolysis

Baumgartner

Koopman

Forner‐Cuenca

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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Electrochemical CO2 reduction has the potential to use excess renewable electricity to produce hydrocarbon chemicals and fuels. Gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) allow overcoming the limitations of CO2 mass transfer but are sensitive to flooding from (hydrostatic) pressure differences, which inhibits upscaling. We investigate the effect of the flooding behavior on the CO2 reduction performance. Our study includes six commercial gas diffusion layer materials with different microstructures (carbon cloth and carbon paper) and thicknesses coated with a Ag catalyst and exposed to differential pressures corresponding to different flow regimes (gas breakthrough, flow-by, and liquid breakthrough). We show that physical electrowetting further limits the flow-by regime at commercially relevant current densities (≥200 mA cm–2), which reduces the Faradaic efficiency for CO (FECO) for most carbon papers. However, the carbon cloth GDE maintains its high CO2 reduction performance despite being flooded with the electrolyte due to its bimodal pore structure. Exposed to pressure differences equivalent to 100 cm height, the carbon cloth is able to sustain an average FECO of 69% at 200 mA cm–2 even when the liquid continuously breaks through. CO2 electrolyzers with carbon cloth GDEs are therefore promising for scale-up because they enable high CO2 reduction efficiency while tolerating a broad range of flow regimes.

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“…Their research initially identified key descriptors in the process and proposed targeted solutions to overcome them. For instance, addressing the issues with tunable product selectivity, 7 ion exchange membrane, 8,9 reactor design, [10][11][12] and so on. In this section, we aim at highlighting descriptors that majorly hinder the scalability of lab research into device level taking an example of hydrocarbon production from CO2.…”

Section: A Devices For Fuel Energy Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unraveling the Translational Exchange between Academic Research and product Scale-up for disruptive technologies: Critical Comments on Devices and path forward.

Nandi

Vijayan²,

Chhetri

2022

Preprint

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Academic translational research efforts to industry are often an underlying sought-after goal among the researchers. Through the interchanges of research endeavors between academia-industry, great innovations can/has been achieved that cater to the real-world application by bridging “industrially relevant” problem solving with pursuing fundamental concepts. It is pertinent that most of the studies from university level research works may not translate into demonstrable products in the market as many factors are at play here which are beyond the scope or reach of academic researchers. Funding support, individual goals of researchers, socio-economic factors and most importantly the technical know-how of generating revenue strategies to make it a profitable startup are few of the factors that have slowed the pace of collaborative efforts. However, we believe that the most critical factor is identification of the critical parameters that solves long standing problems that hinder the scale-up of the lab scale research into marketable products. To illustrate this, we take three most relevant examples, devices for fuel generation, devices to utilize solar radiation and devices for sensing and other related applications. In this perspective article, we provide an in-depth case study of each of these critical parameters to comment on the direction of research avenues that can serve as step-stones for the commercialization of university-level lab research studies.

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Intermittent Operation of CO₂ Electrolyzers at Industrially Relevant Current Densities

Abstract: We demonstrate the dynamic operation of CO 2 electrolyzer cells, with a power input mimicking the output of a solar photovoltaic power plant. The zero-gap design ensured efficient intermittent operation for a week, while avoiding significant performance loss.

Cited by 36 publications

References 15 publications

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

When Flooding Is Not Catastrophic─Woven Gas Diffusion Electrodes Enable Stable CO₂ Electrolysis

Unraveling the Translational Exchange between Academic Research and product Scale-up for disruptive technologies: Critical Comments on Devices and path forward.

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Intermittent Operation of CO2 Electrolyzers at Industrially Relevant Current Densities

Abstract: We demonstrate the dynamic operation of CO 2 electrolyzer cells, with a power input mimicking the output of a solar photovoltaic power plant. The zero-gap design ensured efficient intermittent operation for a week, while avoiding significant performance loss.

Cited by 36 publications

References 15 publications

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

When Flooding Is Not Catastrophic─Woven Gas Diffusion Electrodes Enable Stable CO2 Electrolysis

Unraveling the Translational Exchange between Academic Research and product Scale-up for disruptive technologies: Critical Comments on Devices and path forward.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Intermittent Operation of CO₂ Electrolyzers at Industrially Relevant Current Densities

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

Zero-Gap Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction Cells: Challenges and Operational Strategies for Prevention of Salt Precipitation

When Flooding Is Not Catastrophic─Woven Gas Diffusion Electrodes Enable Stable CO₂ Electrolysis