DECADE project goes beyond the state-of-the-art, proposing a novel solution to overcome limitations in current, state-of-the-art PEC approaches. In addition to solve PEC limitations, the substitution of water as preferred electron and proton reservoir is also adding commercial value to the process. Instead of oxygen, the anodic reaction participates to the final product, increasing the commercial interest, but also the energy efficiency. Currently, most PEC strategies only contemplate water as sacrificial electron and proton donor, with no clear or convenient alternatives. Alternatives, such as chlorine production, would be very difficult to implement due to safety issues, particularly for distributed solutions.
There are several elements of innovation in the proposed DECADE approach, based on the identification of the critical issues in the current PEC approach. Further relevant advantages are:
- Integration of solar energy within (bio)refineries, combined with the reuse of CO2 emissions to converge on the production of high added-value chemicals (circular economy). We will test in our prototype the use of conventional refinery CO2 streams to lower carbon footprint and improve circular economy, evaluating also the use for biorefinery streams. Thus, there is a win-win solution of integrating renewable energy in (bio)refinery while lowering the carbon footprint and increasing the production of higher value products.
- Development of circular economy and low-carbon production concepts for large-scale chemical processes, with the analysis of the integration of the novel PEC solution into methanol plants to convert waste CO2 to chemicals and introduce solar energy within the methanol value chain.
- A step to the distributed production of chemicals, particularly green solvents and fuel additives for gasoline, which can be produced in a single integrated device with minimization of downstream separation costs.
- The flexible use of the products to either green chemicals or high-octane number fuel additives, with analysis of different cases of applications and with the involvement of companies addressing different possible uses of the technology.
DECADE project will reduce the environmental impact on society of energy/chemicals production (reducing its CO2 footprint and use of resources) by i) enabling a change from fossil based to advanced use of bio-based products (including their associated CO2 emissions) in combination with direct solar energy, ii) developing new routes for utilization waste CO2 produced in chemical processes, iii) offering new opportunities to implement concept of circular economy and iv) new possibilities for distributed production of green solvents at local/regional level, with thus also positive impact on territory and local economies.
