Towards carbon neutral chemicals production: Opportunities for combining fermentation with electrochemical processes

Abstract

A circular carbon economy offers a pathway towards sustainable industry, decoupling production from pervasive fossil fuel feedstocks. Global supply chains however have tremendous inertia, and so, in the short term, strategies are required to maximise decarbonisation with minimal intervention. Fortunately, there are only a handful of top-platform chemicals which are used to make all others through traditional chemicals manufacturing. Electrochemical processes offer significant opportunities to link renewable electricity with chemical productions. Currently, however, electrochemistry is at nearing commercialisation stages only for a handful of chemical products. More promise for product diversification may be obtained when it is used as an enabling technology to provide feedstocks for other technologies ( e.g. , biotechnology and thermochemistry). By utilising commercialised electrochemical products ( e.g. , hydrogen and carbon monoxide), these combinations can reach other platform chemicals at much higher overall energy efficiencies. This approach is being recognised in industry, with several companies at the forefront. • Power-to-X technologies offers a path towards sustainable production from CO 2 . • Limited overlap between existing bulk chemicals production and electrochemistry. • Biotechnology and thermochemistry can bridge this gap. • Energy efficiency is a useful metric to assess synergistic pathways. • Biotechnology offers the most complementary benefits.