"Designing Organic Electrosynthesis Processes for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing"

The chemical industry propelled human progress by using energy from fossil fuels and, in the process, inadvertently contributed to anthropogenic climate change. This industry outputs >70,000 products (1.2 billion tons in total), impacts more than 25% of the US GDP, and is responsible for ~5% of the US primary energy consumption (4.5 Quads). Thermochemical processes in this industry account for >93% of this energy consumption (>87% in the form of fossil-fuel-derived heat). Decarbonization of this industry would represent a giant step towards mitigating global warming. This urgent transition must integrate renewable energy sources with chemical manufacturing, ultimately resulting in the electrification of this industry via large-scale implementation of electrochemical manufacturing. Currently, however, two major challenges prevent the deployment of electrosynthesis reactors at scale: their low selectivity and their low production rates. This presentation will discuss reaction engineering opportunities to enhance the performance of organic electrosynthesis reactors. Specifically, I will present our work on understanding and improving the electrohydrodimerization process for the production of adiponitrile (ADN), a precursor to Nylon 6,6. Although this model reaction is the largest and most successful organic electrosynthesis implemented in industry, it faces many challenges owing to its limited energy conversion and selectivity. Through a combination of experimental electroanalytical characterization and machine learning, we elucidate guidelines for the optimal operation of ADN electrosynthetic reactors. Our results provide insights into mass transport limitations that affect the selectivity of organic electrosynthesis processes and on how to control electrode processes to mitigate them.

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