Scale up of high performance catalysts for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to useful products

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Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are increasing dramatically as a direct result of increased world energy demand and the associated accelerating use of fossil fuels. Developing technologies that can convert CO2 to useful products, rather than directly releasing it to the atmosphere, is a first step in dealing with this critical problem. One very promising technology that can achieve this goal is the conversion of CO2 to CO and O2 ('CO2 splitting') or CO2+H2O to syngas (CO+H2) in a high temperature solid oxide electrolysis cell, operating on non-CO2 intensive electricity and heat sources (e.g., wind, solar, etc.). The Birss Group at the University of Calgary has recently developed several highly active and stable materials (mixed ion and electron conducting metal oxides) specifically to catalyze these reactions in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs), with significant interest being garnered from both industry and research groups world-wide, particularly due to the high rates of CO2 conversion, interfacial stability and general durability of these materials. However, to date, the cells constructed of these materials have been quite small; typical of research-scale devices produced in university laboratories. Therefore, the goal of this I2I project is to scale-up the SOEC cells composed of these catalytic materials, and then demonstrate their CO2 conversion capabilities at typical high operating temperatures, while also demonstrating the proof-of-concept scale SOEC-based electrolyzers when subjected to realistic CO2 and CO2/steam gas feeds. The high efficiency production of concentrated CO from CO2 at the cathode will create a new path for the supply of important feedstock chemicals, while syngas can be stored for later use as a fuel. Furthermore, the production of pure oxygen at the anode has significant benefits in the petrochemical industry, which currently uses costly cryogenic air separation methods. A number of companies are very interested in the CO2 and CO2/H2O conversion system being scaled up in this project and a successful project outcome will significantly accelerate the commercialization of this technology.