Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to ethylene (C2H4) has emerged as a promising approach for converting CO2 into valuable chemicals while utilizing renewable electricity. To facilitate the commercialization of this technology, a process-level techno-economic assessment (TEA) is constructed for a plant producing 100 tons/day of C2H4 from coal-power flue gas CO2 using a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer and downstream gas separations. The model integrates (i) flue gas CO2 capture by chemical absorption, (ii) CO2RR to C2H4 with H2 as the only co-product, and (iii) cathode off-gas separation by pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plus anode off-gas CO2 recovery and recycle. A Cu10–Sn catalyst measured in an H-cell is projected to MEA operation by scaling current density by 10×, yielding a “Case Study in This Article” scenario of j = 246 mA·cm−2 and FE(C2H4) = 48.74%. Under this scenario, the total cost is 592.61 thousand USD/day (5926 USD/ton), dominated by electricity (39.8%). Scenario analysis shows that the total cost can decrease to 76,755.0 USD/day (767.6 USD/ton) under a future-outlook case with improved electrolyzer performance and low-cost power, enabling a net profit of 19,945.0 USD/day at an ethylene selling price of 967 USD/ton. Sensitivity analysis identifies FE(C2H4), full-cell voltage, and electricity price as the most influential variables. The results translate laboratory catalyst metrics into industrial cost drivers and clarify quantitative performance targets for commercialization.
Xiao et al. (Wed,) studied this question.