What would it take for renewably powered electrosynthesis to displace petrochemical processes?

Abstract

Electrocatalytic transformation of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) and water into chemical feedstocks offers the potential to reduce carbon emissions by shifting the chemical industry away from fossil fuel dependence. We provide a technoeconomic and carbon emission analysis of possible products, offering targets that would need to be met for economically compelling industrial implementation to be achieved. We also provide a comparison of the projected costs and CO ₂ emissions across electrocatalytic, biocatalytic, and fossil fuel–derived production of chemical feedstocks. We find that for electrosynthesis to become competitive with fossil fuel–derived feedstocks, electrical-to-chemical conversion efficiencies need to reach at least 60%, and renewable electricity prices need to fall below 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. We discuss the possibility of combining electro- and biocatalytic processes, using sequential upgrading of CO ₂ as a representative case. We describe the technical challenges and economic barriers to marketable electrosynthesized chemicals.