Fraunhofer lighthouse project »ShaPID« – Shaping the Future of Green Chemistry by Process Intensification and DigitalizationElectrochemistry plays a growing role in context of Green Chemistry ambitions. In the »ShaPID« project by Fraunhofer, a range of electrochemical syntheses has been investigated, among them for example the reduction of CO₂ to formiate.
Corresponding electrochemical flow reactors have been developed to address the needs of different reactions.
In case of the CO2 reduction, the developed cell has a geometric cathode area of 123 cm2 and is equipped with a commercially available gas diffusion layer coated with tin-based electro catalysts developed by Fraunhofer and an iridium mixed metal oxide anode. The catholyte and anolyte compartments with a thickness of 1.6 mm are divided by a commercially available cation exchange membrane.
Albeit these specific adaptations of the realized reactor, the used reactor concept allows on one hand future adaptation to other applications and but on the other hand also higher throughput rates. The latter has e. g. be demonstrated for the Kolbe electrolysis.