Electrolytic Methane Production from Reactive Carbon Solutions

Eric W. Lees; Alyssa Liu; Justin C. Bui; Shaoxuan Ren; Adam Z. Weber; Curtis P. Berlinguette

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00283

journal article·2022-05-13Open access

Electrolytic Methane Production from Reactive Carbon Solutions

Eric W. Lees, Alyssa Liu, Justin C. Bui, Shaoxuan Ren, Adam Z. Weber, Curtis P. Berlinguette

ACS Energy Letters· Volume 7· Issue 5

Publisher page Open full text

Source abstract

Abstract

We report an electrochemical reactor that converts 3.0 M KHCO3 into methane at the cathode, and oxidizes water at the anode. The molar ratio of methane product to unreacted CO2 gas (defined herein as “methane yield”) was measured to be 34% at a partial current density of 120 mA cm–2. The highest previously reported CO2-to-methane yield is 3%. Our reactor achieved this improvement in methane yield because it is fed with 3.0 M KHCO3, a type of reactive carbon solution, rather than gaseous CO2. The reactor uses H+ delivered by a bipolar membrane to form CO2 at the cathode. This CO2 is subsequently reduced into methane. A cationic surfactant added to the catholyte suppressed hydrogen evolution and increased methane formation. A 1D continuum model confirmed that H+ from the membrane promotes the formation of methane over multicarbon products at the cathode. These findings present design principles for electrochemical methane synthesis.

Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

Energy storage

OpenAlex topics: CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts · Ionic liquids properties and applications · Ammonia Synthesis and Nitrogen Reduction

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada

Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, South Drive, Berkeley, California 94720, United States

Liquid Sunlight Alliance, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, United States

Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, The University of British Columbia, 2355 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), 661 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1M1, Canada

Funding

Army Research Office · Canada Foundation for Innovation · Killam Trusts · Total · Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy · Canada First Research Excellence Fund · Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada · Canadian Institute for Advanced Research · Max Planck-UBC-UTokyo Center for Quantum Materials

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