Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Prof. J. P. Martin Trusler

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering

Professor of Thermophysics
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5592m.trusler Website

 
 
//

Assistant

 

Miss Jessica Baldock +44 (0)20 7594 5699

 
//

Location

 

409ACE ExtensionSouth Kensington Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Ramdin:2019:10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970,
author = {Ramdin, M and Morrison, ART and de, Groen M and van, Haperen R and de, Kler R and Irtem, E and Laitinen, AT and van, den Broeke LJP and Breugelmans, T and Trusler, JPM and Jong, WD and Vlugt, TJH},
doi = {10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970},
journal = {Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research},
pages = {22718--22740},
title = {High-pressure electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid/formate: effect of pH on the downstream separation process and economics},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970},
volume = {58},
year = {2019}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - We use a high-pressure semicontinuous batch electrochemical reactor with a tin-based cathode to demonstrate that it is possible to efficiently convert CO2 to formic acid (FA) in low-pH (i.e., pH < pKa) electrolyte solutions. The effects of CO2 pressure (up to 50 bar), bipolar membranes, and electrolyte (K2SO4) concentration on the current density (CD) and the Faraday efficiency (FE) of formic acid were investigated. The highest FE (∼80%) of FA was achieved at a pressure of around 50 bar at a cell potential of 3.5 V and a CD of ∼30 mA/cm2. To suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in aqueous media is typically performed at alkaline conditions. The consequence of this is that products like formic acid, which has a pKa of 3.75, will almost completely dissociate into the formate form. The pH of the electrolyte solution has a strong influence not only on the electrochemical reduction process of CO2 but also on the downstream separation of (dilute) acid products like formic acid. The selection of separation processes depends on the dissociation state of the acids. A review of separation technologies for formic acid/formate removal from aqueous dilute streams is provided. By applying common separation heuristics, we have selected liquid–liquid extraction and electrodialysis for formic acid and formate separation, respectively. An economic evaluation of both separation processes shows that the formic acid route is more attractive than the formate one. These results urge for a better design of (1) CO2 electrocatalysts that can operate at low pH without affecting the selectivity of the desired products and (2) technologies for efficient separation of dilute products from (photo)electrochemical reactors.
AU  - Ramdin,M
AU  - Morrison,ART
AU  - de,Groen M
AU  - van,Haperen R
AU  - de,Kler R
AU  - Irtem,E
AU  - Laitinen,AT
AU  - van,den Broeke LJP
AU  - Breugelmans,T
AU  - Trusler,JPM
AU  - Jong,WD
AU  - Vlugt,TJH
DO  - 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970
EP  - 22740
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 0888-5885
SP  - 22718
TI  - High-pressure electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid/formate: effect of pH on the downstream separation process and economics
T2  - Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970
UR  - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03970
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/77562
VL  - 58
ER  -
Download