CO_2 EMISSION REDUCTION THROUGH INNOVATIVE MOLTEN SALT ELECTROLYSIS TECHNOLOGIES USING INERT ANODES

摘要

The world production of crude steel reached 1.55 billion tons in 2012, which generated -2.5 billion tons of CO_2. Electrochemical metallurgy especially through high temperature molten salt electrolysis with renewable electricity stands for a great opportunity for producing "green" metals. In recent years, electrolytic production of iron without emission of CO_2 in different molten salt systems has been reported. A cost-affordable inert anode is the key to produce acceptable eco-friendly iron by the novel molten salt electrolysis processes. Based on the authors' research, this paper will discuss iron production by molten salt electrolysis using a nickel alloy inert anode. On the other hand, the paper also covers a novel molten salt CO_2 capture and electrochemical transformation (MSCC-ET) process, in which CO_2 is effectively converted to value-added carbon and oxygen in a molten bath using a cost-affordable non-consumable SnO_2 anode.