Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4, Canada.
Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, Singapore 627833, Singapore.
Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 7;14(1):1954. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37382-3.
Chemicals manufacture is among the top greenhouse gas contributors. More than half of the associated emissions are attributable to the sum of ammonia plus oxygenates such as methanol, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. Here we explore the impact of electrolyzer systems that couple electrically-powered anodic hydrocarbon-to-oxygenate conversion with cathodic H evolution reaction from water. We find that, once anodic hydrocarbon-to-oxygenate conversion is developed with high selectivities, greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil-based NH and oxygenates manufacture can be reduced by up to 88%. We report that low-carbon electricity is not mandatory to enable a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions: global chemical industry emissions can be reduced by up to 39% even with electricity having the carbon footprint per MWh available in the United States or China today. We conclude with considerations and recommendations for researchers who wish to embark on this research direction.
化学品制造是温室气体排放的主要来源之一。相关排放的一半以上归因于氨和甲醇、乙二醇和对苯二甲酸等含氧物的总和。在这里，我们探讨了将电动阳极烃类到含氧物转化与阴极水电解反应相结合的电解槽系统的影响。我们发现，一旦采用高选择性开发了阳极烃类到含氧物的转化，与化石基 NH 和含氧物制造相关的温室气体排放就可以减少多达 88%。我们报告说，即使使用当今美国或中国每兆瓦时碳足迹的低碳电力，也不一定能实现温室气体排放的净减少：全球化学工业的排放量可以减少多达 39%。我们为希望从事这一研究方向的研究人员提供了考虑因素和建议。
