Electrosynthesis of ethylene glycol from C1 feedstocks in a flow electrolyzer

Rong Xia; Ruoyu Wang; Bjorn Hasa; Ahryeon Lee; Yuanyue Liu; Xinbin Ma; Feng Jiao

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-40296-9

Electrosynthesis of ethylene glycol from C₁ feedstocks in a flow electrolyzer

Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 29;14(1):4570. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40296-9.

Authors

Rong Xia^{1

2}, Ruoyu Wang³, Bjorn Hasa², Ahryeon Lee², Yuanyue Liu⁴, Xinbin Ma⁵, Feng Jiao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
² Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA.
³ Texas Materials Institute and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
⁴ Texas Materials Institute and Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA. yuanyue.liu@austin.utexas.edu.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China. xbma@tju.edu.cn.
⁶ Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA. jiao@udel.edu.

Abstract

Ethylene glycol is a widely utilized commodity chemical, the production of which accounts for over 46 million tons of CO₂ emission annually. Here we report a paired electrocatalytic approach for ethylene glycol production from methanol. Carbon catalysts are effective in reducing formaldehyde into ethylene glycol with a 92% Faradaic efficiency, whereas Pt catalysts at the anode enable formaldehyde production through methanol partial oxidation with a 75% Faradaic efficiency. With a membrane-electrode assembly configuration, we show the feasibility of ethylene glycol electrosynthesis from methanol in a single electrolyzer. The electrolyzer operates a full cell voltage of 3.2 V at a current density of 100 mA cm^-2, with a 60% reduction in energy consumption. Further investigations, using operando flow electrolyzer mass spectroscopy, isotopic labeling, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, indicate that the desorption of a *CH₂OH intermediate is the crucial step in determining the selectively towards ethylene glycol over methanol.