Evaluating the Sustainability of Electrochemical CO2 Capture Technology through LCA and LCC: A Winery Industry Application

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive environmental and economic assessment of CO2 absorption using electrochemically produced NaOH for the industry decarbonization (e.g. winery industry). The EDEN® technology, based on the chlor alkali electrochemical process, achieved high CO2 capture efficiencies of up to >80%, with comparable performance when tested on pure CO2 and fermentation derived CO₂ streams (deviations <2%). Beyond capture, the system demonstrated multifunctionality by converting low concentration waste brine (0.05–0.15 M) into hydrogen and chlorine while simultaneously fixing CO2 as sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. Under optimized operating conditions, Faradaic efficiencies for hydrogen production reached 98–100%, with energy consumption values of 3.10 kWh kg⁻¹ NaOH at 5.5 V and 4.36 kWh kg⁻¹ NaOH at 6.5 V, highlighting the trade off between kinetics and energy intensity. Life cycle and techno economic analyses modeled four EDEN® scenarios and benchmarked them against conventional column absorption with commercial NaOH. Net carbon savings were demonstrated, with Scenario 2 (electroabsortion) recording the lowest impacts across all categories (e.g. -0.882 g CO2-eq and 32 mLwater per g CO2 captured) . Capture costs were highly sensitive to electricity carbon intensity, but integration with renewable energy and commercialization of co products (H2, Cl2, Na2CO3) enabled capture costs to approach net zero or even negative values. These findings underline the significant climate mitigation potential of electrochemical CO2 capture when embedded within industrial processes. By combining CO2 absorption with the co production of valuable chemicals and hydrogen, EDEN® offers a scalable and versatile pathway toward environmentally and economically viable decarbonization, with direct applicability to the wine sector and broader industrial systems facing biogenic or process related emissions.