ELECTROCATALYTIC CONVERSION OF CO2 EMISSIONS FROM VODKA PRODUCTION

Abstract

The ethylene production and alcoholic beverage industries are major greenhouse gas emitters. This project aims to use electrocatalysis and cryogenic separations to create sustainable and pure products of ethylene (C2H4) and oxygen (O2) from the emissions of the Tito's vodka distillery in Austin, TX. The first component of this process is the electrolyzer which uses 1,484mol/min of pure CO2 from a vodka distillery to produce 634 mol/min of C2H4 and 2,098 mol/min O2 out of the electrolyzer. These products are produced alongside unwanted byproducts, so a sequence of distillation columns, cryogenic heat exchangers, mixers and knockout drums were used to achieve a high purity and flow of C2H4 and O2. Approximately 564 moles per minute of 99.9 mol% pure C2H4 and 2,089 mol/min of 99.9% pure O2 were successfully produced as end products. By utilizing wind power, this process has can remove over 28 million kg of CO2 annually. This process removes 3 tons of CO2 for every ton of ethylene produced; whereas, ethylene production via traditional methods (steam cracking) releases 1.1 tons of CO2 for every ton of ethylene produced. The effects of varying performance parameters of the electrolyzer were evaluated and analyzed as well. Economically, this process proves to be very expensive, losing over $7 million annually. Carbon taxes cannot feasibly overcome this deficit, but a premium of $0.23 per 1.75 L bottle of Tito's vodka would allow this process to break even over the project lifetime.