Organization Name:Tianjin University

Project introduction:

Achieving “carbon neutrality” is essential for the sustainable development of BRICS countries,which is also an important issue considered worldwide. The “Solar-driven CO2utilization system” developed in this project uses sunlight as energy input and CO2 as raw material to synthesize syngas, an important industrial product, by electrocatalytic reactions. This system could turn the greenhouse gas into an important carbon resource, realizing “waste-to-treasure” transformation. It achieves energy saving and chemical production, simultaneously.

This system can be used in many application scenarios, such as remission of the curtailment of PV power, value-added conversion of industrial tail gas, and distributed production of chemicals, which has a considerable market. Based on the currenttechnology, ~25 tons of CO2can be converted into ~16 tons of syngas by 1 cm2 electrode per year. If 80% of the wastedPV power in China is utilized by this system, 930,000 tons of CO2 gas can be fixed annually, which is equivalent to the total carbon sequestration of 50 million trees in one year, while producing 600,000 tons of syngas and saving 300,000 tons of coal. The CO2 converted by this system can be used for trading ofcarbon credits. The products can be supplied to the chemical market. Thus, this system has considerable economic values. The annual profit of about 45,000 RMB would be gained by 1 cm2 electrode per year. The significant scaling effect of the system could enable a net economic return of 1.4~1.8 billion RMB per year if 80% of the wastedPV power in China is utilized. Therefore, the solar-driven CO2utilization system has the potential for industrial application.

Currently, the team has developed a series of key technologies including the synthesis of electrocatalysts, assemblyof electrode, design of electrolyzers, development of stack system, coupling of micro-grids. One patent based on the system has been applied. This project will help BRICS countries to develop a low-carbon routetowards a green future.