A new review co-authored by our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) member Deepak Pant has just been published in Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering. The paper, entitled “Industrial Implementation of CO₂ electrolysis: beyond the technological frontier” does not only dive into the critical stack-level and technological challenges of CO₂ electrolysis, but it also highlights the frequently overlooked barriers to commercialisation related to infrastructure, system integration, policies and regulations.

The evolution of climate neutrality targets has catalysed a shift in the perception of CO₂ from a waste byproduct to a strategic feedstock. A key pillar of this transition is CO₂ electrolysis, a promising CO₂ utilisation technology that simultaneously curbs CO₂ emissions and produces bulk chemicals and e-fuels. Despite promising progress in the field, the commercial-scale implementation of CO₂ electrolysis has not been realized to date, mainly due to the lack of a viable business case, which deters industrial players from investment in this technology. However, the review demonstrates that several technoeconomic studies on the topic have evaluated different possible products’ economic viability.

The paper discusses how observations from the limited TRL 6–7 pilot systems confirm that primary constraint on industry-scale development of CO₂ electrolysis is no longer found in the molecular architecture of the catalyst, but in the rigorous integration of scaled components for assembling the stack. Successful deployment depends on finding solutions for coupled phenomena of large-area fluid distribution, heat management, and the management of (bi)carbonate formation. Even if the catalyst is highly performing, when the stack environment is not robust enough, industrial implementation of the technology is not realistic.

A shift in R&D focus is required from incremental improvement in product selectivity toward achieving high energy efficiency and operational lifetime in an integrated, upscaled system. But “Advancing CO₂ electrolysis technologies and demonstrating true CCU leadership requires us to look beyond the lab and tackle these systemic, macro-level hurdles head-on. If we want to see gigaton-scale impact, the policy, market incentives, and regulatory frameworks must mature at the exact same pace as our engineering” commented Deepak Pant.

Find the detailed review here.