(200d) Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) of CO2 Electrolysis Systems for Ethylene Production

The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic performance to covert CO₂ to ethylene via electrolysis and further upgrading processes on a commercialized scale. Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ can simultaneously remove greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and produce replaceable petroleum products. Ethylene is widely used to produce plastics in chemical industry with a high annual global production of over 150 million metric tonnes. [1] Bench-scale experiments has reported copper electrocatalyst could reduce CO₂ to ethylene with high faradaic efficiency. [2] In order to understand the commercialization potential of CO₂ electrolysis to ethylene system, we conducted a techno-economic analysis.

In this study, we evaluated the capital, operating cost and minimum ethylene product selling prices (MPSP) of a large-scale CO₂ electrolysis and upgrading system to produce ethylene at 100 metric tonnes per day. Current economic analysis indicates that electricity is a major contributor to the ethylene break-even selling price, while the electrolyzer reactor requires a high capital investment. We also did uncertainty analysis to understand uncertainty impacts of the major performance metrics on the MPSP of ethylene. The preliminary analysis shows that faradaic efficiency, electrolyzer cost, electricity price and current density have significant impacts on the ethylene MPSP. We envision to provide targets for reactor performance metrics and important economic inputs in order to produce economic competitive ethylene from this CO₂ electrochemical reduction system.

References:

[1] Eskew, B. US Petrochemicals: The growing importance of export markets EIA. (2018).

[2] Dinh, C., Burdyny, T., Kibria, G., Seifitokaldani, A., Gabardo, C. M., Arquer, F. P. G. de, Kiani, A., Edwards, J. P., Luna, P. De, Bushuyev, O. S., Zou, C., Quintero-Bermudez, R., Pang, Y., Sinton, D. & Sargent, E. H. CO 2 electroreduction to ethylene via hydroxide-mediated catalysis at an abrupt reaction interface. Science 360, 783–787 (2018). DOI:10.1126/science.aas9100