Techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment of the electrochemical conversion process with captured CO2 in an amine-based solvent

Abstract

The direct electrochemical conversion of captured CO₂ technology has received global attention as an alternative to the current energy-demanding amine solvent regeneration and separation processes of the conventional carbon capture process; however, the identification of the potential advantages of this process from both the economic and environmental perspectives is not straightforward. Here, we present process designs of two commercial-scale carbon capture and utilization (CCU) processes: a direct electrochemical conversion process via the captured CO₂ reduction reaction (cCO₂RR) in a monoethanolamine (MEA)-based medium and an electrochemical conversion process via the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) in aqueous electrolyte media. As a result of the techno-economic analysis, the levelized cost of product CO (LCOC) of the cCO₂RR process, which reflects the current technology level, is 3.5 times higher than that of the CO₂RR process, resulting in low economic feasibility. However, if the technology of cCO₂RR develops to the same level as that of the CO₂RR, the LCOC can be 6.1% lower than that of the CO₂RR process, which shows that the cCO₂RR technology has good economic potential. Furthermore, the life cycle assessment revealed that when using renewable electricity, the cCO₂RR process can have a much more positive environmental impact than CO₂RR, even at the current technological performance level. We highlighted that the analysis of the proposed cCO₂RR technology will become a good guideline for the development of an integrated and new type of CCU technology without being complacent with the current CCU technology.