STTR Phase I: Scalable CO2 electrolyzers for the production of ethylene glycol and chlorine

这个STTR项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为聚合物化学工业提供一种装置的技术和经济演示。乙二醇主要用于生产用于纺织品和食品包装的塑料。氯是一种主要的工业化学品，用于水的净化和聚氯乙烯的制造。这一拟议的电化学过程利用废弃的二氧化碳和可再生电力，导致净碳负排放，不同于石化来源。将乙二醇和氯的联合生产结合起来，将使整个过程的成本与化石原料生产相比具有成本竞争力，同时支持环境可持续性。这一平台技术有望扩展到化学工业的其他部分。该STTR第一阶段项目建议通过一个一体化装置解决三种主要化学品的可持续联产问题：氯(Cl2)、氢氧化钠(NaOH)和乙二醇用可再生电力、盐水和二氧化碳生产。目前的二氧化碳减排(CO2RR)面临三大制约因素：1)电力成本高，2)散装化学品相对价格低，3)二氧化碳减排能效低。该项目将通过将最新开发的高能效CO2RR用于乙二醇催化剂并联产Cl2和NaOH来解决这些限制，以抵消电力成本和较低的乙二醇价。本课程将讨论由Cl2、NaOH和CO2RR组合产生的三个技术障碍：A)产生Cl2和NaOH，这需要严格分离产品(导致次氯酸盐和不纯NaOH的价值降低)；B)在电解槽中保持三种不同的pH条件(对氯是酸性的，对碱是碱性的，对CO2RR是中性的)；以及C)为复杂的多产品过程提供膜、电极和电解槽设计的基本见解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR project is the technical and economic demonstration of a device for the the polymer chemical industry. Ethylene glycol is primarily used in the production of plastics for textiles and food packaging. Chlorine is a major industrial chemical used in water purification and fabrication of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fabrication. This proposed electrochemical process utilizes waste carbon dioxide and renewable electricity, resulting in net carbon-negative emissions, unlike petrochemical sourcing. Combining ethylene glycol and the co-production of chlorine will make the overall process cost-competitive with production from fossil feedstocks, while supporting environmental sustainability. This platform technology holds promise for an extension to other parts of the chemical industry. This STTR Phase I project proposes to address the sustainable co-production of three major chemicals by one unitized device: Chlorine (Cl2), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and ethylene glycol from renewable electricity, brine, and carbon dioxide. Current carbon dioxide reduction (CO2RR) suffers from three major constraints: 1) high electricity costs, 2) low relative price of bulk chemicals, and 3) low energy efficiency of CO2 reduction. This project will address these constraints by using recently developed energy efficient CO2RR to ethylene glycol catalysts and co-producing Cl2 and NaOH to offset the electricity cost and low ethylene glycol price. Three technical barriers that result from combing Cl2, NaOH, and CO2RR will be addressed: A) Producing Cl2 and NaOH, which requires strict product separation (leading to less valuable hypochlorite and impure NaOH); B) Maintaining three different pH conditions in the cell (acidic for chlorine, basic for alkali, and neutral for CO2RR); and C) Providing fundamental insights into the membrane, electrode, and electrolyzer designs for complex multiproduct processes. These will be addressed by combined experiments and modeling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.