The pilot project for producing syngas via carbon dioxide electrolysis successfully passed the on-site assessment

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The pilot project for producing syngas through carbon dioxide electrolysis successfully passed the on-site evaluation. Author/Source: Carbon Energy Technology (Beijing). Date: November 26, 2020. Clicks: 30. From November 20 to 23, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation organized experts to conduct a 72-hour on-site evaluation of the pilot plant for producing syngas from carbon dioxide at Inner Mongolia Yitai Chemical Co., Ltd. The facility was jointly designed, developed, and constructed by Carbon Energy Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Yitai Chemical Co., Ltd., Tianjin University, and Sinosteel Synthetic Oil Engineering Co., Ltd. It began operating officially in August and has now accumulated 1,900 hours of stable operation. This assessment was led by Zhao Ming, the head of the Science and Technology Projects Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. The expert panel consisted of four members: Zhang Lianghu, the chief engineer at Lanxing (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd.; Zhang Huimin, the manager of the Coal Chemicals Department at **Energy Group; Tan Qiang, a professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University; and Chen Kai, the chief engineer at Inner Mongolia Yino New Materials Co., Ltd. At the kick-off meeting for the assessment, the expert group carefully reviewed the operation records of the project’s equipment and provided professional suggestions regarding the assessment plan. During the assessment period, the expert team inspected on-site the operation of systems such as electrochemical reactors, circulation units, and carbon dioxide supply devices, reviewed the original data records, and checked areas such as the control room, analysis room, and site sampling sites to ensure that the data collected for this assessment were accurate and reliable. Based on the inspection of on-site operation conditions and the analysis and calculation of assessment data, the assessment results show that the carbon-hydrogen ratio of the product syngas is 0.52:1, and the direct current power consumption is 6.69 kWh/Nm3. The expert group unanimously agreed that the device met all the requirements specified in the assessment plan; during the assessment period, its operation was stable and normal, with full-load operation achieved. This device utilizes an efficient carbon dioxide electroreduction catalyst developed independently by Carbon Energy Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., as well as three-dimensional electrodes with high air permeability. It features a newly designed electrochemical reactor with a flexible structure, and employs a process flow that eliminates the need for electrolyte consumption or emission. By using the carbon dioxide product gas from the 1.2 million-ton coal-to-oil project of Yitai Chemical in Hangjin Banner as the feed gas, it is possible to process 30 tons of carbon dioxide per year, produce 45 kNm3 of syngas, and generate 22.5 kNm3 of oxygen as a by-product. The successful pilot-scale demonstration of carbon dioxide electrolysis technology indicates that this technology has moved beyond the laboratory stage and is moving toward industrialization. It lays a solid foundation for the development of 10,000-ton-scale process packages and the creation of complete industrial production facilities, and it will provide a new technical approach to help China achieve its goal of \"carbon neutrality\" by 2060.