Abstract: A novel polymers production process, often with fuels/chemicals as by-products. The invention consists of device, addition polymerization, condensation polymerization, process with piping, control and procedure. The device is a mechanical design to continuously remove solid deposit, conductive or not, on electrode surface. Besides overcoming the limitation of electrochemical polymer production where the products blocks the electrode from further operation, the device provides cheaper operation for electrometallurgy to harvest the valuable metals formed on electrode. The novel process allows retrofitting conventional polymer production process by replacing conventional reactor with electrochemical reactor, for low-cost rapid implementation. The novel reactions consist of addition reaction to produce addition polymers; and intermolecular reaction to produce classes of condensation polymers.

Abstract: A process for producing glycerol carbonate can include providing an electrolyte including CO2 and glycerol in an electrochemical reaction unit, and applying an electrochemical potential between an anode and a cathode immersed in the electrolyte to electrochemically transform the CO2 and glycerol into glycerol carbonate. Providing reduced viscosity and/or certain temperature conditions can advantageously enhance production. The CO2 can be supplied via a CO2-loaded stream obtained from an absorption reactor, or as a gas phase, into the electrochemical reaction unit. The resulting reaction mixture can be processed by solvent extraction of the glycerol carbonate, while the recovered glycerol can be recycled for reuse in electrochemical reactions. Systems including an electrochemical reaction unit, an extractor, an optional absorption reactor, an optional water removal unit, and an optional CO2 gas recycle assembly, is also described.