Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Formic Acid ? An Engineering Approach

N. SRIDHAR; A. AGARWAL; Y. ZHAI; D. HILL; LEONEL MATIAS CHIACCHIARELLI; G.S. FRANKEL

Montreal

Encuentro; 219th ECS meeting; 2011

increasingly considered as an approach for CO2 emissions reduction for some industrial applications. Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid and other compounds has been investigated for almost 100 years, but there have been very few engineering assessments of such processes1. Such engineering assessments are vital in setting proper targets for research in this area for catalyst development, reactor design,product selection, and energy source decisions. We have developed a value chain analysis tool that performssensitivity analyses considering a range of parameters affecting electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid. Such a analysis (Figure 1) shows quantitatively the importance of increasing the catalyst lifetime, reducing the overall cell voltage, and the usage of consumable chemicals.