Zero-Chem: Zerogap bipolar membrane electrolyser for CO2 reduction to chemicals & fuels

二氧化碳是许多工业和过程产生的废物分子。人类正在努力防止工业过程产生二氧化碳，但钢铁制造、水泥生产和酿酒等某些部门的排放难以防止。但是，二氧化碳不应该仅仅被认为是一种废物，它可以被转化，基本上是化学回收，以制造社会所依赖的能源丰富的燃料和产品（例如喷气燃料，塑料，药品）。电催化二氧化碳还原是将二氧化碳转化为有用产物的最有前途的方法之一。生产可储存的高能量密度燃料，仅使用水，废弃的二氧化碳和可再生能源，作为解决季节性能源储存的方式特别有吸引力。化学品和制药行业的二氧化碳衍生产品的替代，该行业在英国雇用超过15万人，创造超过250亿英镑的价值，也可以通过替代现有的virigin化石衍生碳产品在实现净零方面发挥重要作用。令人印象深刻的实验室基础上的结果正在实现电催化二氧化碳还原在室温下，但目前这一代的设备有一个根本的缺陷。他们使用氢氧化物产生或已经存在于二氧化碳还原位点的条件。氢氧化物与二氧化碳迅速反应形成碳酸盐和碳酸氢盐，这意味着它不再可用于转化。这导致固体形成和装置故障以及降低装置的效率。据估计，回收二氧化碳至少增加了50%的能源转换成本。在许多情况下，与氢氧化物和二氧化碳之间的反应相关的能量成本超过所储存的碳基燃料或原料的能量含量。许多二氧化碳电解装置不是燃料产生装置，而是燃料浪费装置。碳酸盐和碳酸氢盐不能在酸中形成，它们不稳定。相反，二氧化碳仍然可用于转化。但是在酸中，所有使用贵金属（例如金、银）的当前一代二氧化碳还原电极不产生碳产物，而是仅产生氢。社区的教条是催化剂位点不能在低pH下操作，因为催化剂不起作用。ZeroChem的方法很简单--如果催化剂在工艺有效运行所需的条件下不起作用，那么催化剂需要重新设计。该可行性研究将评估是否可以制造在强酸中操作的气体扩散电极。然后，我们将展示它们在新型零间隙双极膜电解槽中的应用，以提供一种全新的二氧化碳利用方法。

Carbon dioxide is a waste molecule that is generated by many industries and processes. Humanity is striving to prevent the production of carbon dioxide by industrial processes but emissions from certain sectors such as steel manufacture, cement production and brewing are difficult to prevent. But carbon dioxide should not just be thought of as a waste product, it can be converted, essentially chemically recycled, to make the energy rich fuels and products (e.g. jet fuel, plastics, medicines) on which society relies. Electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction is one of the most promising ways to convert carbon dioxide to useful products. The generation of storable, high energy density, fuels using only water, waste carbon dioxide and renewable power is particularly attractive as way to addressing seasonal energy storage. Displacement of carbon dioxide derived products for the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries, a sector which employs more than 150,000 people in the UK and generates more than £25 billion in value, can also play an important role in achieving net-zero by displacing existing virigin fossil derived carbon products. Impressive lab based results are being achieved for electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction at room temperature but the current generation of devices have a fundamental flaw. They use conditions where hydroxide is either generated or already present at the site of carbon dioxide reduction. Hydroxide reacts rapidly with carbon dioxide to form carbonate and bicarbonate, meaning that it is no longer available for conversion. This leads to solids forming and device failure as well as lowering the efficiency of the device. It is estimated that recovering the carbon dioxide adds at least 50% to the energy of cost of conversion. In many cases the energy cost associated with the reaction between hydroxide and carbon dioxide exceeds the energy content of the carbon based fuel or feedstock stored. Rather than being fuel generating devices many carbon dioxide electrolysers are fuel wasting.Carbonate and bicarbonate are not formed in acids, they are not stable. Instead the carbon dioxide remains available for conversion. But in acids all of the current generation of carbon dioxide reduction electrodes that use precious metals (e.g. gold, silver) do not produce carbon products, instead only hydrogen is made. The dogma of the community is that the catalyst site must not be operated at low pH as the catalysts do not work. The ZeroChem approach is simple - if thecatalyst does not work under the conditions that are required for the process to operate effectively then the catalyst needs to be redesigned. This feasibility study will assess if gas diffusion electrodes can be made which operate in strong acid. We will then demonstrate their use in a novel type of zero-gap bipolar membrane electrolyser to deliver an entirely new approach to carbon dioxide utilisation.