General Techno-Economic Analysis of CO₂ Electrolysis Systems

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) has received significant attention in academic research, although the techno-economic prospects of the technology for the large-scale production of chemicals are unclear. In this work, we briefly reviewed the current state-of-the-art CO2 reduction figures of merit, and performed an economic analysis to calculate the end-of-life net present value (NPV) of a generalized CO2 electrolyzer system for the production of 100 tons/day of various CO2 reduction products. Under current techno-economic conditions, carbon monoxide and formic acid were the only economically viable products with NPVs of $13.5 million and $39.4 million, respectively. However, higher-order alcohols, such as ethanol and n-propanol, could be highly promising under future conditions if reasonable electrocatalytic performance benchmarks are achieved (e.g., 300 mA/cm2 and 0.5 V overpotential at 70% Faradaic efficiency). Herein, we established performance targets such that if these targets are achieved, electrochemical CO2 reduction for fuels and chemicals production can become a profitable option as part of the growing renewable energy infrastructure.