DataSheet1_v1_Challenges and Opportunities of Carbon Capture and Utilization: Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Ethylene.DOCX

The discovery and development of efficient technologies that enable the use of CO2 as a starting material for chemical synthesis (at scale) is probably one of the biggest scientific challenges of our time. But a key question is if the cure will not be worse than the disease? In this work, the economic feasibility of the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethylene is assessed and it is demonstrated that from a Capital expenditure and Operational expenditure point of view the electrochemical production of ethylene from CO2 is not feasible under the current market conditions. Even in the case that the renewable electricity price would be zero, the feasibility is hampered by the state-of-the-art catalyst performance (selectivity) and the cost of the electrochemical reactor. Turning the installation on and off, if this would be even practically possible, is not interesting because our study shows that because of the high Capital expenditure, the payback time of the process would become unacceptably high. Finally, because of the high electricity requirement, this Carbon Capture and Utilization process has a lower CO2 avoidance potential than the substitution of gray electricity by green electricity. This means that today the available green electricity would best be used to close coal and gas based power plants instead of powering the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to ethylene.

开发可规模化以二氧化碳（CO₂）为原料开展化学合成的高效技术，或许是当代最重大的科学挑战之一。但核心问题在于：这项解决方案是否会比问题本身更糟？本研究评估了二氧化碳电化学还原制乙烯的经济可行性，结果表明，从资本支出（Capital expenditure）与运营支出（Operational expenditure）的视角来看，当前市场环境下该工艺并不具备经济性。即便可再生电力价格为零，该工艺的可行性仍受限于顶尖催化剂的性能（选择性）与电化学反应器的制造成本。启停装置（即便实际可行）也并无经济价值，因为本研究显示，受限于高昂的资本支出，该工艺的投资回收期将高至无法接受的程度。最后，由于该碳捕集与利用（Carbon Capture and Utilization, CCU）工艺耗电量巨大，其二氧化碳减排潜力低于用绿色电力替代灰电的方案。这意味着，当下可用的绿色电力更适合用于关停煤电与气电厂，而非用于二氧化碳电化学还原制乙烯的工艺。