The (petro-)chemical industry applies energy- intense thermal/catalytic processes to convert fossil fuels into different intermediates, bulk chemicals and fuels, while emitting a sizeable fraction of the anthropogenic CO₂ emissions associated with climate change. In contrast, electroreduction of CO₂ to intermediates such as CO, ethylene and ethanol not only uses some of the otherwise emitted CO₂ as the feed, this process also emits drastically less CO₂ than the traditional chemical processes.

This presentation will summarise the state of the art in CO₂ electrocatalysis, and how it is affected by electrolyte composition, pH, and cell design. It will also explore the techno-economic and life-cycle prospects of CO₂ electroreduction technology. Analysis show that addressing the significant energy requirements of the anode (oxygen evolution reaction) and the lack of catalyst and electrode durability of catalysts and electrodes are key to achieving economic feasibility and carbon neutrality. We have shown that a co-conversion approach that involves oxidation of organic substrates such as glycerol (a waste product of biofuel production) on the anode (thus replacing the oxygen evolution reaction) drastically enhances the prospects of CO₂ electroreduction technology becoming a key component to a future carbon-neutral chemical industry.

This webinar presented by Paul Kenis will discuss:

• Summary of the status of CO₂.
• Techno-economic and life-cycle analysis of CO₂ electrolysis to identify remaining hurdles.
• The prospects of CO₂ electrolysis technology contributing to a future sustainable chemical industry.

Paul J A Kenis is the Elio E Tarika endowed chair and a professor of chemical and biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an investigator of the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research between Kyushu University in Japan and UIUC.

Kenis, a native of the Netherlands, received his BS in chemistry from Nijmegen Radboud University, where he worked on model systems for metalloproteins with Roeland Nolte, and his PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Twente, working with David Reinhoudt on films for nonlinear optical applications. As a postdoc with George Whitesides at Harvard, he explored the then emerging area of microfluidics.

At Illinois, Kenis develops microchemical systems with a range of applications: fuel cells; radiolabeling of biomolecules; protein/pharmaceutical crystallisation; and platforms for cell biology studies. His recent efforts on CO₂ electroreduction pursue suitable catalysts, electrodes, electrolyser designs, determining suitable operation conditions, and performing techno-economic analysis as a guide towards more energy-efficient systems.

Kenis, has authored more than 200 publications and 14 patents. He was elected a fellow of the ECS in 2019, and has previously been recognised with a 3M young faculty award, a NSF CAREER award, a Xerox award, and best paper awards from AIChE and SEBM. He is also a co-author of reports on the prospects of CO₂ utilisation at scale issued by the National Academies, as well as the global Mission Innovation consortium.