Abstract:
With the intensification of global warming, reducing atmospheric CO
2 concentration is becoming increasingly urgent. However, conventional carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies rely on energy-intensive gaseous CO
2 desorption and purification processes, severely limiting their economic viability and large-scale deployment. Carbonate electrolysis shows potential for coupling with alkaline carbon capture. This approach directly electrolyzes carbonate capture solutions, bypassing energy-intensive purification. However, alkaline capture systems depend on high pH (≥11.5) for efficient CO
2 absorption. Electrolysis systems require low pH (≤9.5) for optimal CO
2-to-fuel conversion. This mutual constraint prevents direct integration of the two systems. To resolve this, present study proposes an integrated system coupling carbonate electrolysis with Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis (BPMED) for atmospheric CO
2 capture and utilization. By incorporating a BPMED module between the air contactor and electrolyzer, the system achieves compatibility under renewable electricity driving force, enabling material circulation. The constructed techno-economic model reveals that within the proposed system, the electrolyzer equipment and its auxiliary systems dominate the capital expenditure. Specifically, the investment and operational costs for electrolyzer producing electron-intensive products like ethylene are significantly higher than those for other products. Current BPMED membrane costs and electricity consumption result in a Net Present Value (NPV) lower than that of gaseous CO
2 electrolysis, with all six target products (carbon monoxide, formic acid, methanol, ethylene, ethanol, n-propanol) exhibiting negative NPVs. Key parameter analysis indicates: Optimizing BPMED membrane costs will only enhance the economic superiority of formic acid production over gaseous CO
2 systems. By reducing electricity costs to 0.02 /kWh, both formic acid and carbon monoxide achieve higher net present value compared to gaseous systems. Through multi-parameter co-optimization (simultaneous 20%−60% enhancement of electricity price, electrolyzer voltage, current density, Faradaic efficiency, electrolyzer cost, BPMED membrane cost, cation-exchange membrane selectivity, and product selling price), profitability becomes achievable for all products. Formic acid is the first product to reach profitability, while methanol breaks even last under conditions requiring optimization across all parameters. Sensitivity analysis identifies electricity price, product selling price, and electrolyzer voltage as the three most critical influencing factors on system economics. For products with standardized pricing advantages like formic acid, fluctuations in selling price exert a stronger influence on NPV than technical parameters. Conversely, highly energy-intensive products like ethylene and ethanol are acutely sensitive to electricity costs. These findings underscore the necessity for differentiated optimization strategies: For low electron-demand products, efforts should focus on enhancing separation efficiency to amplify their price advantage. For high electron-demand products, the priority is breaking through the energy efficiency bottleneck in electrolysis. Future technology development should concentrate on innovations in bipolar membrane materials to reduce resistive losses, while simultaneously mitigating the constraint of electricity costs through integrated renewable (wind-photovoltaic-storage) power supply models. This dual approach is essential to propel the transition of CO
2 resource utilization from laboratory innovation to industrial-scale implementation.