Emerging opportunities for electrochemical processing to enable sustainable chemical manufacturing

Publication date: June 2018Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Volume 20Author(s): Michael J Orella, Yuriy Román-Leshkov, Fikile R BrushettElectrochemical processes are poised to play a critical role in the future energy economy by supporting widespread decarbonization efforts and providing new avenues for sustainable energy use including the electrification of industry. Opportunities exist for the development and integration of novel electrochemical processes that offer carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative synthetic routes to important products by exploiting new reactivities that enable molecular transformations difficult to realize via thermochemical methods. This mini-review highlights these opportunities by first considering the factors that have enabled electrochemical technologies to flourish in certain industrial sectors and then contemplating how those attributes may be leveraged to enable broader adoption. Hydrogen production, carbon dioxide fixation, and organic hydrogenation are discussed as promising electrochemical processes that may find industrial use in the near future.Graphical abstract

Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering - July 5, 2018 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research