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Updated: Aug 3, 2025

A Toolkit to Enable Hydrocarbon Conversion in Aqueous Environments
Published on: October 2, 2012
Electrified hydrocarbon-to-oxygenates coupled to hydrogen evolution for efficient greenhouse gas mitigation
Wan Ru Leow1,2, Simon Völker3, Raoul Meys3,4
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4, Canada. wanru_leow@isce2.a-star.edu.sg.
Abstract:
Chemicals manufacture is among the top greenhouse gas contributors. More than half of the associated emissions are attributable to the sum of ammonia plus oxygenates such as methanol, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. Here we explore the impact of electrolyzer systems that couple electrically-powered anodic hydrocarbon-to-oxygenate conversion with cathodic H2 evolution reaction from water. We find that, once anodic hydrocarbon-to-oxygenate conversion is developed with high selectivities, greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil-based NH3 and oxygenates manufacture can be reduced by up to 88%. We report that low-carbon electricity is not mandatory to enable a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions: global chemical industry emissions can be reduced by up to 39% even with electricity having the carbon footprint per MWh available in the United States or China today. We conclude with considerations and recommendations for researchers who wish to embark on this research direction.
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