Model-Driven Analysis of Ion Transport for the Design of Efficient Membrane-Based Electrochemical CO2 Capture

Abstract

This article was originally published in Journal of The Electrochemical Society. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ae55d3Reducing energy consumption is essential for electrochemical direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 to reach the Department of Energy (DOE) cost target of $100/tonCO2. However, membrane-based electrochemical DAC systems typically exhibit electron efficiencies below 40$23/tonCO2 in energy savings—nearly one quarter of the DOE target. Model projections further indicate that employing a carbonate-rejecting ionomer could elevate efficiencies beyond 75%, providing a new pathway for high-performance, low-energy electrochemical DAC systems.This effort was partially sponsored by the U.S. Government under OTA W912CH-24-9-0006 with the University of Delaware. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award No. 2330245, which funds the Engineering Research Center for Carbon Utilization Redesign through Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB). We appreciate the contributions of Avaneesh Anand, who carried out the initial interlayer thickness experiments