The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, also known as CO2RR, is the conversion of carbon dioxide () to more reduced chemical species using electrical energy. It represents one potential step in the broad scheme of carbon capture and utilization.
Carbon dioxide () can be reduced using CO2RR to organic compounds such as formate (HCOO-), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4) and ethanol (C2H5OH). Electrocatalysts selective for one particular organic compound include tin for formic acid, silver for carbon monoxide and copper for methane, ethylene or ethanol. Methanol, propanol and 1-butanol have also been produced via CO2RR in small quantities. The main challenges are the relatively high cost of electricity (vs petroleum) and that CO2 is often contaminated with O2 and must be purified before reduction.
The first examples of CO2RR are from the 19th century, when carbon dioxide was reduced to carbon monoxide using a zinc cathode. Research in this field intensified in the 1980s following the oil embargoes of the 1970s. As of 2021, pilot-scale carbon dioxide electrochemical reduction is being developed by several companies, including Siemens, Dioxide Materials, Twelve and GIGKarasek. The techno-economic analysis was recently conducted to assess the key technical gaps and commercial potentials of the carbon dioxide electrolysis technology at near ambient conditions.
Chemicals from carbon dioxide
In carbon fixation, plants convert carbon dioxide into sugars, from which many biosynthetic pathways originate. The catalyst responsible for this conversion, RuBisCO, is the most common protein. Some anaerobic organisms employ enzymes to convert CO2 to carbon monoxide, from which fatty acids can be made.
In industry, a few products are made from CO2, including urea, salicylic acid, methanol, and certain inorganic and organic carbonates. In the laboratory, carbon dioxide is sometimes used to prepare carboxylic acids in a process known as carboxylation. An electrochemical CO2 electrolyzer that operates at room temperature has not yet been commercialized. Elevated temperature solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOECs) for CO2 reduction to CO are commercially available. For example, Haldor Topsoe offers SOECs for CO2 reduction with a reported 6-8 kWh per Nm3 CO produced and purity up to 99.999% CO.
Electrocatalysis
The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to various products is usually described as:
The redox potentials for these reactions are similar to that for hydrogen evolution in aqueous electrolytes, thus electrochemical reduction of CO2 is usually competitive with hydrogen evolution reaction.
Electrochemical methods have gained significant attention:
at ambient pressure and room temperature; in connection with renewable energy sources (see also solar fuel) competitive controllability, modularity and scale-up are relatively simple.
The electrochemical reduction or electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 can produce value-added chemicals such methane, ethylene, ethanol, etc., and the products are mainly dependent on the selected catalysts and operating potentials (applying reduction voltage). A variety of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts have been evaluated.
Many such processes are assumed to operate via the intermediacy of metal carbon dioxide complexes. Many processes suffer from high overpotential, low current efficiency, low selectivity, slow kinetics, and/or poor catalyst stability.
The composition of the electrolyte can be decisive. Gas-diffusion electrodes are beneficial.