Methods and systems for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide using switchable polarity materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10975477-B2
Application number	US-201816651738-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2018
Priority date	Oct 2, 2017
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A method of electrochemically reducing CO2 comprises introducing a first feed stream comprising H2O to a positive electrode of an electrolysis cell comprising the positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a proton conducting membrane. A second feed stream comprising a solvent and a non polar form of a switchable polarity material is directed into a CO2 capture apparatus. A third feed stream comprising CO2 is directed into the CO2 capture apparatus to interact with the second feed stream and form a first product stream comprising the solvent and a polar form of the switchable polarity material. The first product stream is introduced to the negative electrode. A potential difference is applied between the positive electrode and the negative electrode to convert the polar form of the switchable polarity material into CO2 and the non-polar form and to form products from the CO2 and the solvent. A CO2 treatment system is also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of electrochemically reducing CO 2 , comprising:
introducing a first feed stream comprising H 2 O to a positive electrode of an electrolysis cell comprising the positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a proton-conducting membrane between the positive electrode and the negative electrode;
directing a second feed stream comprising additional H 2 O and a non-polar form of a switchable polarity material into a CO 2 capture apparatus;
directing a third feed stream comprising CO 2 into the CO 2 capture apparatus to interact with the second feed stream and form a first product stream comprising the additional H 2 O and a polar form of the switchable polarity material;
introducing the first product stream to the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell; and
applying a potential difference between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell to generate hydrogen ions from the H 2 O that diffuse through the proton-conducting membrane to convert the polar form of the switchable polarity material into CO 2 and the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material and to form one or more products from the produced CO 2 and the additional H 2 O.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material of the second feed stream to comprise one or more of a tertiary amine compound, an amidine compound, and a guanidine compound.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein directing a third feed stream comprising CO 2 into the CO 2 capture apparatus comprises to interact with the second feed stream and form a first product stream comprises reacting the CO 2 of the third feed stream with the additional H 2 O and the one or more of a tertiary amine compound, an amidine compound, and a guanidine compound of the second feed stream to form one or more an aminium bicarbonate, an amidinium bicarbonate, and a guanidinium bicarbonate.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the CO 2 capture apparatus to comprise a gas diffusion membrane apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the electrolysis cell to further comprise a porous buffer structure between the proton-conducting membrane and the negative electrode.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising selecting the porous buffer structure to comprise a polymeric fabric.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the proton-conducting membrane of the electrolysis cell to comprise a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based fluoropolymer-copolymer material;
selecting the positive electrode of the electrolysis cell to comprise one or more of Pt, Ti, and an alloy thereof; and
selecting the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell to comprise a metal-coated carbon material.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein selecting the negative electrode of the electrolysis cell to comprise a metal-coated carbon material comprises selecting the negative electrode to comprise reticulated vitreous carbon coated with metallic particles comprising one or more of Ag, Cu, Pb, Sn, Zn, Au.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
directing a second product stream comprising the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material and the one or more products away from the electrolysis cell and into a separation apparatus; and
separating a gaseous phase of the second product stream from a liquid phase of the second product stream within the separation apparatus, the liquid phase comprising the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising directing the separated liquid phase of the second product stream into the CO 2 capture apparatus to interact with additional CO 2 in the CO 2 capture apparatus and form an additional amount of the polar form of the switchable polarity material.

11. A method of electrochemically reducing CO 2 , comprising:
reacting gaseous CO 2 with a mixture of at least one tertiary amine and H 2 O to form an aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution;
introducing the aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution to a negative electrode of an electrolysis cell while introducing additional H 2 O to a positive electrode of the electrolysis cell, the electrolysis cell comprising the negative electrode, the positive electrode, a proton-conductive membrane between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, and a buffer structure between the negative electrode and the proton-conductive membrane; and
activating the electrolysis cell to convert a portion of the aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution into the at least one tertiary amine and a synthesis gas comprising CO and H 2 .

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein reacting gaseous CO 2 with a mixture of at least one tertiary amine and H 2 O to form at aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution comprising reacting the gaseous CO 2 with 1-cyclohexylpiperidine and liquid H 2 O to form an aqueous 1-cyclohexylpiperidinium bicarbonate solution.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein activating the electrolysis cell comprises applying a potential difference between the positive electrode and the negative electrode to generate hydrogen ions from the additional H 2 O that diffuse through the proton-conducting membrane and into the aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution at the negative electrode to form a multi-phase mixture comprising a gaseous phase including the synthesis gas and a liquid phase including the at least one tertiary amine.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
separating the synthesis gas from a liquid material comprising 1-cyclohexylpiperidine and liquid H 2 O; and
reacting the liquid material with additional CO 2 to form an additional aqueous tertiary aminium bicarbonate solution.

15. A CO 2 treatment system, comprising:
an H 2 O source;
a CO 2 source;
a source of a non-polar form of a switchable polarity material;
a CO 2 capture apparatus downstream of the CO 2 source and the source of the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material, the CO 2 capture apparatus configured to effectuate the formation of a polar form of the switchable polarity material from reactions between CO 2 and the non-polar form of the switchable polarity material; and
an electrochemical apparatus downstream of the CO 2 capture apparatus and the H 2 O source, the electrochemical apparatus comprising:
a housing structure configured and positioned to receive an H 2 O stream from the H 2 O source into a first region of an internal chamber thereof and to receive another stream comprising the polar form of the switchable polarity material from the CO 2 capture apparatus into a second region of the internal chamber thereof; and
an electrolysis cell within the internal chamber of the housing structure, and comprising:
a positive electrode adjacent the first region of the internal chamber;
a negative electrode adjacent the second region of the internal chamber;
a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based fluoropolymer-copolymer membrane between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and
a buffer structure comprising a porous polyester fabric configured to facilitate interactions between hydrogen ions diffused through the sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based fluoropolymer-copolymer membrane and the polar form of the switchable polarity material.

16. The CO 2 treatment system of claim 15 , wherein the CO 2 source comprises one or more of a hydrocarbon combustion apparatus and a biomass gasification apparatus.

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Assignees

• Battelle Energy Alliance Llc

Inventors

• Lister Tedd E
• Dufek Eric J
• Wilson Aaron D
• Diaz Aldana Luis A
• Adhikari Birendra
• Gao Ningshengjie

Classifications

• C25B13/05

  based on inorganic materials · CPC title

• C25B11/032

  Gas diffusion electrodes · CPC title

• C25B9/19

  with diaphragms · CPC title

• C25B3/26

  of carbon dioxide · CPC title

• B01D53/326 Primary

  in electrochemical cells · CPC title