Elevating CO₂ electrolyzer temperature accelerates the viability of chemical electrification

Climate change mitigation has spurred interest in producing chemicals from CO₂. CO₂ reduction by electrochemistry can be driven directly by green electricity, yielding even multi-carbon (C2+) products. However, the resulting processes still suffer from high electrolyzer losses and substantial energy demands. This study evaluates the environmental and economic benefits of integrating optimized electrolyzers into complete processes. For CO₂ electroreduction to ethylene and dimerization to 1-butene, elevated-temperature electrolysis effectively utilizes waste heat. Challenging the ambient-temperature paradigm, this strategy achieves system-wide savings in energy (10%), climate impacts (9%) and overall cost (11%). Generalizing these findings across various CO₂ electroreduction pathways identifies energy savings of up to 25% and the heating system as a key design variable affecting electrolyzer design targets. Our study demonstrates how process integration can guide CO₂ electrolyzer development toward sustainable processes.