Formate Over-Oxidation Limits Industrialization of Glycerol Oxidation Paired with Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Formate

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction processes are generally coupled with the oxidation of water. Process economics can greatly improve by replacing the water oxidation with a more valuable oxidation reaction, a process called paired electrolysis. Here we report the feasibility of pairing CO₂ reduction with the oxidation of glycerol on Ni₃ S₂ /NF anodes to produce formate at both anode and cathode. Initially we optimized the oxidation of glycerol to maximize the Faraday efficiency to formate by using design of experiments. In flow cell electrolysis, excellent selectivity (up to 90 % Faraday efficiency) was achieved at high current density (150 mA/cm² of geometric surface area). Then we successfully paired the reduction of CO₂ with the oxidation of glycerol. A prerequisite for industrial application is to obtain reaction mixtures with a high concentration of formate to enable efficient downstream separation. We show that the anodic process is limited in formate concentration, as Faraday efficiency to formate greatly decreases when operating at 2.5 M formate (∼10 w%) in the reaction mixture due to over-oxidation of formate. We identify this as a major bottleneck for the industrial feasibility of this paired electrolysis process.

Keywords: biomass valorization; carbon dioxide reduction; electrocatalysis; formate; paired electrolysis.