Co-electrolysis of CO 2 and glycerol as a pathway to carbon chemicals with improved technoeconomics due to low electricity consumption

The renewable electricity-driven electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) offers an alternative pathway to producing carbon chemicals that are traditionally manufactured using fossil fuels. Typical CO 2 electroreduction approaches couple cathodic CO 2 reduction with the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), resulting in approximately 90% of the electricity input being consumed by the OER. Here, we explore alternatives to the OER and show that the anodic electro-oxidation of glycerol (a byproduct of industrial biodiesel and soap production) can lower electricity consumption by up to 53%. This reduces the process’s operating costs and carbon footprint, thus opening avenues for a carbon-neutral cradle-to-gate process even when driven by grid electricity (~13% renewables today), as well as economical production of the 12-electron products ethylene and ethanol. This study may thus serve as a framework for the design of CO 2 electroreduction processes with low electricity requirements, enhancing their CO 2 utilization potential and economic viability.