Electrosynthesis of Ethylene for the chemical industry

该项目汇集了来自多伦多大学、女王大学、加拿大清洁技术创新者Ionomr Innovations和全球工业合作伙伴TotalEnergies的多学科研究团队，共同开发一种可扩展的电催化工艺，用于从二氧化碳和可再生电力中合成低碳足迹的乙烯。乙烯是一种广泛使用的化学原料，是许多消费品的基础，包括塑料、化妆品和纺织品。传统的乙烯合成会排放大量的温室气体。电催化将二氧化碳转化为化学原料提供了一种避免排放、取代化石原料和利用多余的可再生电力的手段。该项目建立在TotalEnergies和UofT之间现有的合作伙伴关系的基础上，其中该技术的可行性得到了证明。然而，如何将这项技术规模化用于商业部署仍存在疑问，而且目前尚不清楚哪种系统设计最有希望。为了应对这些挑战，我们将专注于组件和集成系统层面的优化，重点是MEA细胞中心膜的高级定制。为了实现这项工作，我们与Ionomr Innovations合作开发了专门用于电化学二氧化碳到乙烯转化的膜。通过与TotalEnergies和Ionomr Innovations的合作，我们将冒险使用这项技术，并将其用于示范，从而开发加拿大制造的膜和系统的市场，专门用于电化学二氧化碳到乙烯的转化。

This project brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Toronto, Queen's University, Canadian clean tech innovator Ionomr Innovations, and global industrial partner TotalEnergies to develop a scalable electrocatalytic process for the synthesis of low-carbon-footprint ethylene from carbon dioxide and renewable electricity. Ethylene is a widely used chemical feedstock that is the foundation for many consumer goods, including plastics, cosmetics, and textiles. Conventional ethylene synthesis emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. The electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 into chemical feedstocks offers a means to avoid emissions, displace fossil feedstocks, and utilize excess renewable electricity.This project builds upon an existing partnership between TotalEnergies and UofT in which the feasibility of this technology was demonstrated. However, there were still questions about how the technology could be scaled for commercial deployment and it was not clear which system design would be most promising. To address these challenges, we will focus on optimization at the component and integrated system level, with emphasis on advanced customization of the membrane at the centre of MEA cells. To enable this work we have partnered with Ionomr Innovations to develop membranes purpose-built for electrochemical CO2-to-ethylene conversion.In partnership with TotalEnergies and Ionomr Innovations, we will derisk this technology and position it for demonstration and in so doing develop a market for made-in-Canada membranes, and systems, purpose-built for electrochemical CO2-to-ethylene conversion.