(640g) Electrochemical Isotope Separation

Electrochemical technologies hold the promise of enabling a more compact, modularized, and easily scalable manufacturing that could operate solely on electricity and widely available feedstock materials, such as water, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. Despite multiple advantages, electrochemical technologies are significantly less deployed than thermal chemistry methods. The lack of successful electrochemical precedents creates an additional barrier for the ongoing scale-up efforts, preventing the researchers from changing the status quo of the chemical industry. We postulate that there exists an opportunity to overcome this limitation by focusing on niche applications for electrochemical technologies, such as isotope separations. In stark contrast to bulk chemicals, which are produced with very low profit margins, isotopes are a high-end product with limited availability and growing demand, thus providing a promising case for the deployment of electrochemical technologies.

In this talk, we will review several fundamental mechanisms for isotope separation (e.g., electrochemical deposition and intercalation, tunnelling effects, enhanced kinetic isotope effects) and provide examples of how these mechanisms can be implemented in the same (or similar) reactors to the ones that are used for the electrochemical conversion of small molecules. Subsequently, we will share a perspective on leveraging the understanding of isotope separation processes to improve electrochemical reactors' design and scale-up. To exemplify this synergistic approach, we will use case studies of hydrogen, lithium, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) isotope separations. For CO₂ case study, we will present a proof of concept process of electrochemical CO₂ reduction, where the enhanced isotope kinetic effect leads to an enrichment of the less abundant ¹³CO₂ isotopologue in the outlet of the electrolyzer at a level significantly higher than that of the industrially applied method used to separate ¹³C, and eliminates the need to handle large quantities of toxic carbon monoxide currently used at scale to separate carbon isotopes.