Omschrijving

Our current energy infrastructure and economy requires an accelerated transition away from fossil fuels. Renewable electricity plays an important role in this transition due to its ability to compete with coal-fired electricity and its use in electric vehicles, but comes with its own energy storage challenges and an inability to directly replace many liquid fuels and chemicals. The electrically-driven production of base chemicals from CO2 may be an economically-feasible solution which solves challenges associated with intermittent renewable energy.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is non-trivial, however, and is still in the early stages of development. A large number of performance metrics such as product selectivity, activity and stability require improvement before a commercially-competitive process can be created. A great deal of research efforts within the field have been dedicated to finding suitable catalysts to improve the conversion of CO2 to products such as carbon-monoxide and ethylene, while comparatively-little research has tried to improve performance through a systems approach.

This talk will give an overview of electrochemical CO2 reduction catalysts and systems, highlighting the benefits of using a systems-based approach to test catalysts under commercially-interesting current densities (>200 mA/cm2). The benefits of a performing fundamental and applied research in tandem are illustrated through markedly increased reaction performance.

Speaker Thomas Burdyny:
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage Group at TUDelft.

After completing his bachelor’s and master’s in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria in Canada, Tom studied at the University of Toronto for his PhD, researching the electrochemical conversion of CO2 into fuels and chemical feedstocks using renewable electricity. His work in the field has been focussed on advancing the technology towards commercial viability, using an engineering-centric approach to intensify reaction rates and improve process efficiency. This research led to the creation of a scaled prototype as part of the global Carbon XPRIZE competition. In his current role at TU Delft, he is investigating various device configurations and looking to overcome the engineering challenges associated with scaling the technology.

Coffee before and drinks after the presentation are kindly hosted by KIVI Oil&Gastechnology

Spreker(s)

Thomas Burdyny,
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage Group at TUDelft

Locatie

KIVI Building

Prinsessegracht 23, 2514 AP Den Haag

Organisator

Olie- en Gastechnologie

Naam en contactgegevens voor informatie

Nol Herfkens

nolherfkens@gmail.com