Engineering clean solutions: A life cycle perspective on electrochemical ozone generation

• Consistent design of an ozone production electrolyzer tailored for scale-up applications • Extended operation to generate high-quality data for LCA and LCCA modeling • Significant performance variations observed over long-term operation, highlighting durability challenges • Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment of ozone production, identifying key environmental hotspots • Detailed Life Cycle Costing Analysis revealing economic feasibility under various energy scenarios • Demonstrated potential for up to 80 % environmental impact reduction through integration of renewable energy sources • TRL advancement from 4 to 5 through prolonged, near-real-world operation • Scalable design methodology ensuring transferability of results to pilot and industrial-scale systems This study presents a rigorous Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing Analysis (LCCA) of electrochemical ozone production using proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. A fully integrated bench-scale system was designed and operated continuously for 1,000 hours to generate high-quality empirical data. The plant was engineered with precise mass and energy balances, ensuring scalability and methodological consistency. This effort elevated the system’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from 4 to 5, bridging the gap between lab-scale research and industrial application. LCA results identified electricity consumption (particularly from the Spanish grid) as the primary driver of environmental impacts, including carbon footprint, human toxicity, and freshwater ecotoxicity. Equipment and material contributions were more significant in the water footprint. Importantly, replacing grid electricity with photovoltaic energy reduced environmental impacts by up to 80 %. Economically, the technology demonstrated promising performance, with capital and operational costs estimated at €2.43 and €0.55 per gram of ozone, respectively, at 100 mA·cm −2 . These findings highlight the strong potential of electrochemical ozone generation as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional methods, especially when integrated with renewable energy sources.