General Techno-Economic Analysis of CO₂ Electrolysis Systems

The electrochemical
reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) has received significant
attention in academic research, although
the techno-economic prospects of the technology for the large-scale
production of chemicals are unclear. In this work, we briefly reviewed
the current state-of-the-art CO2 reduction figures of merit,
and performed an economic analysis to calculate the end-of-life net
present value (NPV) of a generalized CO2 electrolyzer system
for the production of 100 tons/day of various CO2 reduction
products. Under current techno-economic conditions, carbon monoxide
and formic acid were the only economically viable products with NPVs
of $13.5 million and $39.4 million, respectively. However, higher-order
alcohols, such as ethanol and n-propanol, could be
highly promising under future conditions if reasonable electrocatalytic
performance benchmarks are achieved (e.g., 300 mA/cm2 and
0.5 V overpotential at 70% Faradaic efficiency). Herein, we established
performance targets such that if these targets are achieved, electrochemical
CO2 reduction for fuels and chemicals production can become
a profitable option as part of the growing renewable energy infrastructure.