MODELING OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CONVERSION OF CO2 IN MICROFLUIDIC REACTORS

Abstract

Diminishing supplies of conventional energy sources and growing concern over greenhouse gas emissions present significant challenges to supplying the world?s rapidly increasing demand for energy. When it is powered by carbon-neutral electricity sources, electrochemical conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals offers an economically viable route to recycle CO2 towards reducing CO2 emissions and reducing the energy dependence on fossil fuels. This research focuses on developing a mathematical modeling framework for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to CO in microfluidic reactors. Starting from an experimentally validated full model that takes into account of all the significant physics and electrochemistry in a single cell, a reduced model that preserves geometric resolution and leading order behavior of the cell is derived. The single cell models are then extended to stack models for modeling and simulation of the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in microfluidic cell stacks.