TY - JOUR
T1 - Modeling the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to formic acid or formate at elevated pressures
AU - Morrison, Andrew R.T.
AU - van Beusekom, Vincent
AU - Ramdin, Mahinder
AU - Van den Broeke, Leo
AU - Vlugt, Thijs J.H.
AU - de Jong, Wiebren
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In this work a model of an elevated pressure CO2 electrolyzer producing primarily formate or formic acid is presented. It consists of three parts: A model of the bulk electrolyte, the diffusion layer, and the electrode surface. Data from the literature was used to validate both the bulk portion of the model, as well as the overall model. Results from the literature were further explored and explained by reference to the model and faradaic efficiency is predicted very well (R-Square of 0.99 for the fitted data, and 0.98 for the non-fitted data). The primary effect of increasing the pressure on a CO2 electrolyzer is seen to be increasing the maximum attainable partial current density, while the faradaic efficiency and specific energy of formation plateau at pressures above 10-20 bar, at 95% and of 3.7 kWh/kg, respectively. Unlike the efficiencies, the profitability of running a reactor increases with pressure, following a similar trend as partial current density, showing the importance of this quantity as a performance metric of a CO2 electrolyzer. In general this work shows the utility of a model of this sort in the design, evaluation and operation of CO2 electrolyzers.
AB - In this work a model of an elevated pressure CO2 electrolyzer producing primarily formate or formic acid is presented. It consists of three parts: A model of the bulk electrolyte, the diffusion layer, and the electrode surface. Data from the literature was used to validate both the bulk portion of the model, as well as the overall model. Results from the literature were further explored and explained by reference to the model and faradaic efficiency is predicted very well (R-Square of 0.99 for the fitted data, and 0.98 for the non-fitted data). The primary effect of increasing the pressure on a CO2 electrolyzer is seen to be increasing the maximum attainable partial current density, while the faradaic efficiency and specific energy of formation plateau at pressures above 10-20 bar, at 95% and of 3.7 kWh/kg, respectively. Unlike the efficiencies, the profitability of running a reactor increases with pressure, following a similar trend as partial current density, showing the importance of this quantity as a performance metric of a CO2 electrolyzer. In general this work shows the utility of a model of this sort in the design, evaluation and operation of CO2 electrolyzers.
KW - Electrochemical Engineering
KW - Energy Conversion
KW - Industrial Electrolysis
KW - CO2 electroreduction
KW - High Pressure Electrolyzer
KW - Simulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063085773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1149/2.0121904jes
DO - 10.1149/2.0121904jes
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063085773
SN - 0013-4651
VL - 166
SP - E77-E86
JO - Journal of the Electrochemical Society
JF - Journal of the Electrochemical Society
IS - 4
ER -