Electrochemical carbon dioxide capture to close the carbon cycle
Abstract
Electrochemical CO₂ capture technologies are gaining attention due to their flexibility, their ability to address decentralized emissions (e.g., ocean and atmosphere) and their fit in an electrified industry. In the present work, recent progress made in electrochemical CO₂ capture is reviewed. The majority of these methods rely on the concept of "pH-swing" and the effect it has on the CO₂ hydration/dehydration equilibrium. Through a pH-swing, CO₂ can be captured and recovered by shifting the pH of a working fluid between acidic and basic pH. Such swing can be applied electrochemically through electrolysis, bipolar membrane electrodialysis, reversible redox reactions and capacitive deionization. In this review, we summarize main parameters governing these electrochemical pH-swing processes and put the concept in the framework of available worldwide capture technologies. We analyse the energy efficiency and consumption of such systems, and provide recommendations for further improvements. Although electrochemical CO₂ capture technologies are rather costly compared to the amine based capture, they can be particularly interesting if more affordable renewable electricity and materials (e.g., electrode and membranes) become widely available. Furthermore, electrochemical methods have the ability to (directly) convert the captured CO₂ to value added chemicals and fuels, and hence prepare for a fully electrified circular carbon economy.
Additional Information
© 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. Submitted 24 Oct 2020; Accepted 18 Dec 2020; First published 18 Dec 2020. This work was performed in the NWO-cooperation framework of Wetsus, Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology (http://www.wetsus.nl). Wetsus is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the European Union Regional Development Fund, the Province of Fryslân, the City of Leeuwarden and the EZ/Kompas program of the "Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland". The authors like to thank the participants of the research theme "Concentrates" in Wetsus and research group "Transport phenomena" in faculty of applied sciences at TU Delft for the discussions and their (financial) support. This research received funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in the framework of the project ALW.2016.004. The work on aqueous carbonate equilibrium and CO₂ utilization is based on work performed by the Liquid Sunlight Alliance, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Fuels from Sunlight Hub under Award Number DE-SC0021266. The authors also thank the support from SoCalGas. There are no conflicts to declare.Attached Files
Published - d0ee03382k.pdf
Supplemental Material - d0ee03382k1.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 108556
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210325-120635278
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)
- ALW.2016.004
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- DE-SC0021266
- Southern California Gas Company
- Created
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2021-03-30Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-03-30Created from EPrint's last_modified field