Electrolytic cell engineering and device optimization for electrosynthesis of e-biofuels via co-valorisation of bio-feedstocks and captured CO_(2)

Utilizing CO_(2) in an electro-chemical process and synthesizing value-added chemicals are amongst the few viable and scalable pathways in carbon capture and utilization technologies.CO_(2) electro-reduction is also counted as one of the main options entailing less fossil fuel consumption and as a future electrical energy storage strategy.The current study aims at developing a new electrochemical platform to produce low-carbon e-biofuel through multifunctional electrosynthesis and integrated co-valorisation of biomass feedstocks with captured CO_(2).In this approach,CO_(2) is reduced at the cathode to produce drop-in fuels(e.g.,methanol)while value-added chemicals(e.g.,selective oxidation of alcohols,aldehydes,carboxylic acids and amines/amides)are produced at the anode.In this work,a numerical model of a continuous-flow design considering various anodic and cathodic reactions was built to determine the most techno-economically feasible configurations from the aspects of energy efficiency,environment impact and economical values.The reactor design was then optimized via parametric analysis.