A global boutique consultancy, we serve our clients in two ways: via client directed projects (TCG Consulting) and via various programs and studies (TCG Resources).

Electrocatalytic Approaches to Traditional Thermochemical Processes

A recently issued technical investigation commissioned by the members of the Catalytic Advances Program (CAP) details recent advancements in Electrocatalytic Approaches to Traditional Thermochemical Processes.

See PPT Deck here (as PDF) | See Report TofC here (as PDF)

This report describes the new advanced electrocatalytic approaches to traditional thermochemical processes. It follows a 2019 TCGR Catalytic Advances Program (CAP) study, Advances in Electrocatalysis and Photocatalysis for Chemical Production, but differentiates from this first report due to its focus on providing a perspective on the new directions for electrocatalysis, giving substantial attention to document the new trends, and even anticipate the new directions, providing thus an overview of the new possibilities, challenges, and gaps for electrocatalysis.

The topic represents an area which has received a very large amount of scientific attention worldwide, for the crucial role to develop the catalytic technologies necessary for the on-going transition in energy and chemistry and in developing new paths to substitute the use of fossil fuels both as energy and carbon source. As a result, it goes beyond the concept of electrification of the chemical industry to address the new vision for e-chemistry.


Figure 1: Comparison of ten electrochemical CO2 conversion technologies. The functional unit is 1 ton of the target product and X ton of oxygen. The numbers inside brackets are GHG avoidance costs (USD per t-CO2eq). Source: Roh et al., 2020.

The push to decarbonization, together with the opportunity window created by low-cost renewable energy (RE) production, is a main driver to accelerate the development of electrocatalytic processes. This study provides a critical guide to understand the opportunities resulting from, as well as the limits to, numerous current approaches. This report includes the analysis of about 700 publications thus providing a comprehensive, but critical update of the recent developments in the field.

The data and analysis are structured in four chapters.

  • Chapter 1 addresses motivations and drivers, briefly introduces the differences between electrochemistry and electrocatalysis, some key mechanistic aspects, the challenges in the field, including scale-up aspects.
  • Chapter 2 discusses recent developments on the electrocatalytic synthesis of inorganic chemicals, analyzing the differences in thermocatalytic routes, the type of electrocatalytic materials used and some key aspects of the reaction mechanism and nature of the active sites, the role of the optimal design of the electrocatalytic cells, and some elements on bioelectrocatalytic and biomimetic approaches.
  • Chapter 3 focuses on the electrocatalytic synthesis of base and intermediate chemicals, key elements of the design of electrocatalysis, aspects of the mechanism of action, performances obtained with critical results analysis, production of large-volume chemicals, the electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to a range of recent products and emerging possibilities particularly in the area of electro-oxidation.
  • Chapter 4 analyses the electrocatalytic conversion of biobased platform molecules, in relation to the opportunities to develop an e-refinery and e-chemistry; highlights the role of electrochemical methods in transforming biomass-derived molecules, as a key technology to move to electrification of chemical production and the substitution of fossil fuels both as energy and carbon source; and new areas of development at the interface between the reactions of small molecules and those of electrocatalytic transformation.

TCGR’s report, “Electrocatalytic Approaches to Traditional Thermochemical Processes,” is evidence of how the improvement of the performances of electrocatalysts should be realized in close synergy with aspects related to electrode and reactor design and engineering, with attention to scale-up and industrialization aspects.

This study thus not only provides an updated status of the important area of electrocatalytic routes to traditional thermochemical processes, but also offers clues to understand from a different perspective this emerging area, providing a guide to recent developments and their limits and gaps, and giving indications on reconsidering contradictory indications present in literature.

The PPT Deck, as well as a PDF containing the complete TofC, List of Figures and Tables, are available for download below:

See PPT Deck here (as PDF) | See Report TofC here (as PDF)

More information about this report and other services of CAP can be seen at
https://www.catalystgrp.com/tcg-resources/member-programs/catalytic-advances-program/.
Call +1-215-628-4447 or e-mail John Murphy at jmurphy@catalystgrp.com, and we’ll be happy to discuss these and other interesting membership benefits.

The Catalyst Group Resources (TCGR), a member of The Catalyst Group, is dedicated to monitoring and analyzing technical and commercial developments in catalysis as they apply to the global refining, petrochemical, fine/specialty chemical, pharmaceutical, polymer/elastomer and environmental industries.