Electrochemical generation of syngas from water and carbon dioxide at industrially important rates

The electrochemical production of syngas would enable production of chemicals and transportation fuels from carbon dioxide, water and renewable energy, but a suitable process at the moment does not exist. In this paper we consider two options for syngas production: (i) CO2 electrolysis to produce CO, water electrolysis to produce H-2 and then mixing the CO and H-2 to yield syngas; and (ii) the simultaneous co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O in a single electrolyzer. The results show that both processes can produce syngas at industrially important rates. In this paper we demonstrate CO2 electrolysis at 100 mA/cm(2), i.e., about 20 turnovers/s, and water electrolysis at 8 A/cm(2) at 2.0 V/cell, with about 1,600 turnovers/s. Both systems are stable for a thousand hours or more, i.e., millions of turnovers. We also demonstrate simultaneous CO and H-2 production in a single electrolyzer. These results demonstrate that syngas can be produced at industrially important rates via electrolysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.