Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide in pressurized electrochemical cells

To limit the negative effect of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, an interesting approach is the utilization of Carbon Capture and Conversion (CCC) methodology, which is focused on the use of CO2 waste as a feedstock to produce added-value products by using the excess electric energy from renewable source [1]. In this framework, an increasing attention has been devoted to the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to formic acid in water [2-3] or CO [1]. Since the main hurdle of the CO2 reduction from aqueous solution is the low CO2 solubility in water, in this work, the utilization of pressurized electrochemical cells is evaluated. The effect of various operating parameters, including pressure, current density, and flow rate, on the conversion of CO2 at tin flat cathodes is also presented and discussed. [1] G. Wu and P. Zelenay, Accounts Chem. Res., 2013, 46, 1878–1889. [2] L. Monico, K. Janssens, E. Hendriks, F. Vanmeert, G. Van der Snickt, M. Cotte, G. Falkenberg, B. G. Brunetti, and C. Milani, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 13293-13297. [1] S. Ma, P. J. Kenis, Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, 2013, 2, 191-199. [2] A. Del Castillo, M. Alvarez-Guerra, J. Solla-Gullòn, A. Sàez, V. Montiel, A. Irabien, J. CO2 Util.. 2017, 18, 222–228. [4] O. Scialdone, A. Galia, G., Lo Nero, F. Proietto, S. Sabatino, B. Schiavo, Electrochimica Acta, 2016, 199, 332-341.