Sustainable Synthesis of Concentrated Formate via CO<sub>2</sub> Electrolysis Integrated with Cl<sub>2</sub> Formation
Abstract Integrating CO 2 electrolysis with an industrially relevant anodic reaction enhances the economic feasibility and reduces carbon emissions in practical operations. In this study, we present an electrosynthesis strategy that integrates the CO 2 reduction reaction to produce concentrated formate solution with the Cl 2 formation in cation exchange membrane‐based electrolyzers, scaling from 1 to 100 cm 2 electrode areas. Our process, equipped with two automated pH regulation strategies, achieved selectivities over 80% for formate and 95% for chlorine in a 25 cm 2 electrolyzer. Additionally, it demonstrated the ability to achieve formate concentrations up to 5.4 M during extended operation periods, establishing a new benchmark for electrochemical formate/formic acid synthesis. Techno‐economic assessment and life cycle assessment further validated the process' sustainability, demonstrating a realistic path to profitability for valuable chemical production from CO 2 even without considering potential subsidies and carbon taxes.
Authors
- Qikun Hu
- Donghuan Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5251-7955)
- Bingjun Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2303-257X)
- Haocheng Xiong
- Xi Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9338-0780)
- Rui Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7533-3753)
- Qi Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0380-2629)
- Haonan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7146-6500)
Institutions
- King University (US)
- Peking University (CN)
- Inner Mongolia University (CN)
- Inner Mongolia Electric Power (China) (CN)
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2025-03-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202504782
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.73