CO2 reduction, H2 production, and biomass upgrading through one single electrochemical system: from bench to commercialization

电化学CO2还原反应（CO2RR）是将CO2转化为高附加值产品和抑制全球变暖的一种很有前途的解决方案。电化学生产和利用绿色水氢是加拿大正在寻求替代化石燃料的另一项战略。这些方法特别令人感兴趣，因为它们能够实现迫切需要的间歇性可再生能源的存储，同时加速温室气体（GHG）排放的净减少。许多人都在努力推进从二氧化碳中提取不同化学原料的前景，并提高析氢反应（HER）的效率。然而，CO2RR技术尚未从实验室转移到商业化阶段，相对于基于化石燃料的H2生产工艺，HER在经济上也不可行；主要是因为能源效率低。在传统的电解槽中，氢气是在阴极（CO2RR的竞争反应）产生的，并与阳极的析氧反应（OER）相结合。OER本身并没有增加有价值的产品。然而，在这个项目中，我们采用了一种新的方法，在阳极将生物废物电氧化产生H2，通过醛转化为有价值的酸，同时在阴极与CO2RR耦合。与OER相比，生物废弃物更容易氧化，因此统一电化学系统减少CO2、产生H2、升级生物废弃物的能效将大大提高。与工业和政府合作伙伴和决策者（ElectroCarbon， CERT, NRCan）合作，我们采用多方面的技术转移方法，将这一新颖的想法从实验到商业化。这个合作团队将使我们能够扩大技术规模，进行经济评估，评估生命周期和温室气体排放模型，并考虑业务发展。我们从加拿大的几个主要机构中挑选的科学团队将带来各种协同的专业知识，以推进知识，提高电化学系统的性能，并将结果转化为具有经济竞争力的系统。

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising solution to convert CO2 into value-added products and curb the global warming. Electrochemical production and utilization of green hydrogen from water is another strategy that Canada is pursuing to replace fossil fuels. These approaches are of particular interest as they enable the urgently needed storage of intermittent renewable energy while accelerating a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much effort has been devoted to advance the prospects of producing different chemical feedstocks from CO2RR and to improve the efficiency of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Nevertheless, neither CO2RR technology is yet to be transferred from lab benches to the commercialization stage, nor HER is economically viable relative to fossil fuel-based H2 production processes; mostly because of low energy efficiency. H2, in conventional electrolyzers, is produced at cathode (a competing reaction for the CO2RR) and coupled with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at anode. The OER itself does not add valuable products. In this project, however, we follow a novel approach to produce H2 at anode from biowastes electro-oxidation, via aldehydes conversion into valuable acids, while it is coupled with the CO2RR at cathode. Biowaste oxidation is easier than the OER, thus, the energy efficiency of the unified electrochemical system to reduce CO2, produce H2, and upgrade biowastes, will considerably improve. In collaboration with industrial and governmental partners and decision makers (ElectroCarbon, CERT, NRCan), we adopt a multifaceted technology transfer approach to bring this novel idea from bench to commercialization. This collaborative team will enable us to scale-up the technology, perform economic evaluation, assess the life cycle and model GHG emissions, and consider business development. Our scientific team chosen from several key institutions across Canada will bring a synergistic variety of expertise to advance the knowledge, improve the performance of the electrochemical system, and translate the results to an economically competitive system.