The present invention relates to a method for generating gas mixtures comprising carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and their use in synthesis reactions, especially

hydroformylation and carbonylation reactions.

Carbon monoxide has a rich chemistry which has found many uses within the chemical industry (see e.g. R. A. Sheldon (ed.), "Chemicals from Synthesis Gas", Reidel/Kluwer

Dordrecht (1983)). Thus, several chemicals are produced with CO as one of the reactants, and such reactions are termed carbonylation reactions. Some carbonylation

processes, such as methanol synthesis, rely on gas phase conversion. In many cases, however, the carbonylation reaction is performed in a liquid phase. Thus, methanol carbonylation to acetic acid or acetic anhydride,

hydroformylation of alkenes to aldehydes and/or alcohols and Reppe carbonylations of alkynes or alkenes to

carboxylic acids and derivatives thereof are all conducted in a liquid phase pressurized with a carbon monoxide containing gas. The present invention relates to such liquid phase carbonylation processes.

Regarding the hydroformylation reaction, it has been shown that the rate may be increased up to four-fold if the reaction is conducted in so-called CXL (CCy-expanded liquid) media (see e.g. H. Jin & B. Subramaniam, Chemical Engineering Science 59 (2004) 4887-4893 and H. Jin et al . , AIChE Journal 52 (2006) 2575-2581). Pressurizing an organic solvent with CCt makes the solvent expand, and the

diffusivity and solubility of other (reactant) gases are increased compared to the neat solvent. The use of CXL media is a general way of intensifying liquid phase

catalytic reactions, such as carbonylations . However, a source of CCy as well as a source of CO (and a source of ¾ in the case of hydroformylation) need to be provided, which is not always feasible and under all circumstances will increase the complexity of the front-end.

A sustainable source of CO is CO2. By means of a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or an SOEC stack, CO2 can be electrolyzed to CO. Furthermore, using the same SOEC or SOEC stack, ¾ can be generated from ¾0. One limitation, however, is that the SOEC cannot operate at full conversion due to heavy formation of carbon or carbonaceous compounds in the cell. If pure CO (or CO/H ₂₎ is desired, it is necessary to separate the unconverted CO2, e.g. by means of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit. However, a PSA unit is expensive and adds substantially to the cost of the entire process.

Now it has turned out that, by the present invention, these problems combined can be turned into an advantage. Using CO2 (and optionally ¾0) as feed for an SOEC or SOEC stack operating at moderate (e.g. 25%) conversion, a stream of CO (and optionally ¾) in CO2 is obtained, which can be used as the gaseous feed for catalyzed liquid phase

carbonylation reactions, such as e.g. alcohol

carbonylation, hydroformylation, Reppe carbonylations and Koch carbonylations. Thus, carbon dioxide will serve as the sole source of carbon monoxide, and any storage, transportation and handling thereof will be omitted.

Furthermore, the presence of carbon dioxide in the reaction medium will provide the conditions for CXL, which will increase the reaction rate of the carbonylation reaction.

In the following, the hydroformylation reaction is used as an example to illustrate the invention.

Hydroformylation, also known as "oxo synthesis" or "oxo process", is an industrial process for the production of aldehydes from alkenes. More specifically, the

hydroformylation reaction is the addition of carbon

monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (¾) to an alkene. This chemical reaction entails the net addition of a formyl group (CHO) and a hydrogen atom to a carbon-carbon double bond. The reaction yields an aldehyde with a carbon chain one unit longer than that of the parent alkene. If the aldehyde is the desired product, then the syngas should have a

composition close to CO:H _{2 =} 1:1.

In some cases, the alcohol corresponding to the aldehyde is the desired product. When this is the case, more hydrogen is consumed to reduce the intermediate aldehyde to an alcohol, and therefore the syngas should have a composition of approximately CO:H ₂ = 1:2.

Sometimes it is desired to purify the intermediate aldehyde before converting it into an alcohol. Accordingly, in such case, a syngas with the composition CO:H _{2 =} 1:1 must first be used, followed by pure ¾ . Thus, the need for low-module syngas (i.e. low hydrogen-to- carbon monoxide ratio) is characteristic for the

hydroformylation reaction. Such a syngas composition is rather costly to provide since it cannot be obtained directly from steam reforming of natural gas or naphtha. At least a steam reformed gas must undergo reverse shift, i.e. the reaction CCy + ¾ -> CO + ¾0, to provide sufficient CO. Otherwise, a cold box for condensing CO has to be installed to separate the CO. This is also a costly solution, and there will be an excess of hydrogen, for which a purpose for use has to be found.

Alternatively, gasification plants may provide low-module (i.e. CO-rich) syngas, but gasification plants need to be very large in order to be efficient, and they are also expensive, both with respect to CAPEX and to OPEX.

Furthermore, coal-based gasification plants are

increasingly undesired due to the substantial environmental implications and a large CO2 footprint.

Low-module syngas for hydroformylation is therefore

generally costly. Large hydroformylation plants are often placed in industrial areas and may thus obtain the

necessary syngas "over the fence" from a nearby syngas producer. In many cases, however, this is not possible for medium or small size hydroformylation plants. Instead, such smaller plants will need to import the syngas, e.g. in gas cylinders, which is very expensive. Furthermore,

transportation and handling of such gas containers is connected with certain elements of risk since syngas (not least low-module syngas) is highly toxic and extremely flammable, and syngas may form explosive mixtures with air. Import of CO by tube trailers will face similar challenges, both in terms of costs and in terms of safety.

Regarding prior art, US 8,568,581 discloses a

hydroformylation process using a traditional

electrochemical cell, not a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or an SOEC stack, for preparation of the synthesis gas to be used in the process. Water is introduced in a first (anode) compartment of the cell, and CO2 is

introduced into the second (cathode) compartment of the cell followed by alkene and catalyst addition to the cell, and the cathode induces liquid phase hydroformylation when an electrical potential is applied between the anode and the cathode .

In WO 2017/014635, a method for electrochemically reducing carbon dioxide is described. The method involves the conversion of CO2 into one or more platform molecules such as syngas, alkenes, alcohols (including diols) , aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids, and also conversion of CO2 into i.a. CO, hydrogen and syngas. The method does not, however, include preparation of low-module syngas for hydroformylation . US 2014/0291162 discloses a multi-step method for

preparation of various compounds, such as aldehydes, by electrolysis of previously prepared CCy and/or CO and steam. The method includes i.a. heat transfer from a heating means towards a proton-conductive electrolyser comprising a proton-conducting membrane arranged between the anode and the cathode . Applicant's WO 2013/164172 describes a process for the production of a chemical compound from a feed stream containing CO2, said process comprising the steps of:

- electrolyzing at least a part of the CO2 in a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) to a first gas stream containing CO and a second gas stream containing O2,

- adjusting the composition of the first gas stream or the second gas stream or both gas streams to include CCy, either by operating at less than full conversion of CCy or by sweeping one or both gas streams with a gas containing CO2 or by - at some stage between the electrolysis cell and the oxidative carbonylation reactor - diluting one or both gas streams with a gas containing CCy, and

- introducing the first and second process stream into a reaction stage and reacting the first and second process stream combined or in succession with a substrate to the chemical compound by means of an oxidative carbonylation reaction with the CO and the O2 contained in the process feed stream.

The invention described in WO 2013/164172 is thus based on the utilization of a combination of the two electrolysis streams (the CO-containing stream and the 02-containing stream) for oxidative carbonylation reactions, while the present invention teaches how to obtain a suitable CO- containing stream by electrolysis to be used as one of the feed streams in carbonylation reactions.

Finally, US 2011/0253550 discloses a method for producing a synthetic material, where water is converted into ¾ and Cy using high-temperature electrolysis. Depending on the way the catalytic process is carried out, the mixture of water vapor, CO2 and ¾ can additionally be converted

catalytically into functionalized hydrocarbons, such as aldehydes. This publication is very unspecific and does not define the concept of high-temperature electrolysis, neither in terms of temperature range nor in terms of the kind(s) of equipment being usable for the purpose.

Now it has turned out that the above-described elements of risk in relation to syngas can effectively be counteracted by generating the syngas, which is necessary for

hydroformylation plants, in an apparatus based on solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) or SOEC stacks. A solid oxide electrolysis cell is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) run in reverse mode, which uses a solid oxide electrolyte to produce e.g. oxygen and hydrogen gas by electrolysis of water. Importantly, it can also be used for converting CCy electrochemically into the toxic, but for many reasons attractive CO directly at the site where the CO is to be used, which is an absolute advantage. The turn-on/turn-off of the apparatus is very swift, which is a further

advantage .

Thus, co-electrolysis of water and carbon dioxide in an SOEC stack may produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the desired ratio. If hydrogen is already available from other sources, then the SOEC may be used to generate carbon monoxide. This includes the option of preparing ¾ and CO in separate SOEC stacks. In practice it is usually desirable to operate the SOEC stack at less than full conversion and therefore the product gas will contain CO, CO2 and optionally ¾ and ¾0. By cooling the raw product gas, most of the steam (if present) will condense, and it can then be separated from the gas stream as liquid water in a separator. The product gas may be further dried, e.g. over a drying column, if desired. The product gas will then contain CO, CO2 and optionally ¾ as the main

components. The separation of CO2 from the reactive

components CO and ¾ is more complicated and costly than the separation of water from the product gas. It can be done by using a PSA (pressure swing adsorption) unit, which unfortunately is quite expensive.

However, the presence of CO2 in the hydroformylation reaction actually is an advantage: The hydroformylation reaction is carried out in a liquid medium, and

pressurizing this liquid with CO2 entails a C0 _2~ expanded liquid (CXL) as defined above. It has been described in the literature (see Fang et al . , Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 46 (2007) 8687-8692 and references therein) that CXL media alleviate mass transfer limitations in the hydroformylation reaction and increase the solubility of the reactant gases in the CXL medium compared to the neat liquid medium. As a result of this, the rate of the hydroformylation reaction may be increased by up to a factor of four in CXL-media compared to neat organic solvents. Furthermore, the n/iso ratio, i.e. the ratio between linear and branched aldehydes, may be improved by using a CXL solvent compared to using the neat solvent as taught in US 7.365.234 B2.

Therefore, the present invention offers a way to provide a syngas with the appropriate H2/CO ratio while at the same time providing the CO2 needed for obtaining a C0 _2~ expanded liquid reaction medium for the hydroformylation process. If hydrogen is available from other sources, the present invention offers a way to provide a CO/CCy-mixture which, when mixed with hydrogen, is suitable for carrying out the hydroformylation reaction in a CXL medium.

An example of an olefin used for the hydroformylation reaction is 1-octene, but in principle any olefin may be used according to the present invention. An example of a liquid solvent for the hydroformylation reaction is

acetone, but a long range of other organic solvents may be used .

Many other catalyzed liquid-phase carbonylation processes are used industrially, and the present invention can be applied to all of them.

So it is the intention of the present invention to provide an apparatus generating syngas or a mixture of carbon oxides based on solid oxide electrolysis cells, which can generate syngas for hydroformylation plants or other plants which are based on synthesis with CO in the liquid phase. The raw materials for generating the syngas will be

mixtures of CO2 and optionally ¾0.

A solid oxide electrolysis cell system comprises an SOEC core, wherein the SOEC stack is housed together with inlets and outlets for process gases. The feed gas or "fuel gas" is led to the cathode part of the stack, from where the product gas from the electrolysis is taken out. The anode part of the stack is also called the oxygen side, because oxygen is produced on this side. In the stack, CO and ¾ are produced from a mixture of CO2 and water, which is led to the fuel side of the stack with an applied current, and excess oxygen is transported to the oxygen side of the stack, optionally using air, nitrogen or carbon dioxide to flush the oxygen side.

More specifically, the principle of producing CO and ¾ by using a solid oxide electrolysis cell system consists in leading CO2 and ¾0 to the fuel side of an SOEC with an applied current to convert CO2 to CO and ¾0 to ¾ and transport the oxygen surplus to the oxygen side of the SOEC. Air, nitrogen or carbon dioxide may be used to flush the oxygen side. Flushing the oxygen side of the SOEC has two advantages, more specifically (1) reducing the oxygen concentration and related corrosive effects and (2) providing means for feeding energy into the SOEC, operating it endothermic. The product stream from the SOEC contains a mixture of CO, ¾, ¾0 and CO2, which - after removal of water, e.g. by condensation - can be used directly in the hydroformylation reaction.

In one embodiment of the invention, CO and ¾ are both made by electrolysis, but in separate SOECs or SOEC stacks. This has the advantage that each SOEC or SOEC stack may be optimized for its specific use.

The present invention pertains not only to the

hydroformylation reaction, but in principle to all

catalyzed liquid phase reactions where CO is one of the reactant chemicals.

The overall principle in the production of CO by

electrolysis is that CO2 (possibly including some CO) is fed to the cathode. As current is applied to the stack, CCt is converted to CO to provide an output stream with a high concentration of CO:

2 CO2 (cathode) -> 2 CO (cathode) + O2 (anode) (1)

If pure CO2 is fed into the SOEC stack, the output will be

CO (converted from CO2) and unconverted CO2.

If a mixture of CO2 and ¾0 is fed into the SOEC stack, the output will be a mixture of CO, CO2, ¾0 and ¾ . In addition to the electrochemical conversion reaction of CO2 to CO (1) given above, steam will be electrochemically converted into gaseous hydrogen according to the following reaction:

H ₂ 0 (cathode) -> ¾ (cathode) + ½ O2 (anode) (2)

Additionally, a non-electrochemical process, namely the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, takes place within the pores of the cathode:

H ₂ (cathode) + CO2 (cathode) <->

H ₂ 0 (cathode) + CO (cathode) (3)

In state-of-the-art SOEC stacks, where the cathode

comprises Ni metal (typically a cermet of Ni and stabilized zirconia) , the overpotential for reaction (1) is typically significantly higher than that for reaction (2) .

Furthermore, since Ni is a good catalyst for the RWGS reaction, reaction (3) occurs almost instantaneously at SOEC operating temperatures. In other words, the vast majority of the electrolysis current is used for converting ¾0 into ¾ (reaction 2), and the produced ¾ rapidly reacts with CO _{2 (} according to reaction 3) to provide a mixture of CO, CO ₂ , H ₂ 0 and ¾ . Under typical SOEC operating

conditions, only a very small amount of CO is produced directly via electrochemical conversion of CO ₂ into CO (reaction 1 ) .

In case pure ¾0 is fed into the SOEC stack, the conversion ¾ ₂ o of H ₂ 0 to H ₂ is given by Faraday's law of electrolysis: where p _H2 is the partial pressure of ¾ at cathode outlet, P _H2O is the partial pressure of steam at cathode outlet, i is the electrolysis current, V _m is the molar volume of gas at standard temperature and pressure, n _ceiis is the number of cells in an SOEC stack, z is the number of electrons transferred in the electrochemical reaction, h _H2 o is the flow of gaseous steam into the stack (at standard

temperature and pressure), and F is Faraday's constant.

In case pure CO ₂ is fed into the SOEC stack, the conversion Co ₂ of CO ₂ to CO is given by an analogous expression: where p _c0 is the partial pressure of CO at cathode outlet, Pco ₂ is the partial pressure of CO ₂ at cathode outlet, i is the electrolysis current, V _m is the molar volume of gas at standard temperature and pressure, n _ceiis is the number of cells in an SOEC stack, z is the number of electrons transferred in the electrochemical reaction, f _c 02 is the flow of gaseous CO2 into the stack (at standard temperature and pressure), and F is Faraday's constant.

In case both steam and CO2 is fed into the SOEC stack, the gas composition exiting the stack will further be affected by the RWGS reaction (3) . The equilibrium constant for RWGS reaction, K _mGS , is given by: where AG is the Gibbs free energy of the reaction at SOEC operating temperature, R is the universal gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature.

The equilibrium constant, and therefore the extent to which electrochemically produced ¾ is used to convert CCy into CO, is temperature-dependent. For example, at 500 °C, K _RWGS = 0.195. At 600 °C, A _RWGS = 0.374. At 700°C, i¾ _WGS = 0.619.

Thus, the present invention relates to a method for the generation of a gas mixture comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and optionally hydrogen for use in

hydroformylation plants or in carbonylation plants, comprising the steps of:

- optionally evaporating water to steam,

- mixing the optional steam with carbon dioxide in the desired molar ratio, and - feeding the resulting gas to a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) or an SOEC stack at a sufficient temperature for the cell or cell stack to operate while supplying an electrical current to the cell or cell stack to effect a partial conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and optionally of steam to hydrogen, wherein

- optionally some of or all the remaining steam is removed from the raw product gas stream by cooling the raw product gas stream allowing for condensation of at least part of the steam as liquid water and separating the remaining product gas from the liquid, and - the gas mixture containing CO and CO2 is used for liquid phase synthesis reactions, utilizing carbon monoxide as one of the reactants while recycling CO2 to the SOEC.

For use in the hydroformylation reaction, the molar ratio between steam and carbon dioxide is preferably in the interval 0-2, more preferably in the interval 0-1.5 and most preferably in the interval 0-1, since this ratio will provide a syngas with a CO:¾ ratio of 1.015:1 (see Example 4 below) .

Preferably the temperature, at which CO is produced by electrolysis of CO2 in the SOEC or SOEC stack, is around 700 ⁰ C . One of the great advantages of the method of the present invention is that the syngas can be generated with the use of virtually any desired CO/H2 ratio, since this is simply a matter of adjusting the CO2/H2O ratio of the feed gas.

Another great advantage of the invention is, as already mentioned, that the syngas can be generated "on-site", i.e. exactly where it is intended to be used, instead of having to transport the toxic and highly flammable syngas from the preparation site to the site of use. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that if it is desired to switch between a 00:¾ ₌ 1:1 syngas and pure ¾, this can be done using the same apparatus, simply by adjusting the feed from CO2/H2O to pure H ₂ 0. A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides a CO/H2 stream diluted in CO2, which enables the subsequent hydroformylation reaction to be carried out in a CCy-expanded liquid (CXL) reaction medium. This advantage embraces higher reaction rates, improved selectivity (n/iso ratio) at mild conditions (lower temperature and lower pressure) compared to hydroformylation in neat liquid media. Similar advantages in other carbonylation reactions are to be expected. A still further advantage of the present invention is that syngas of high purity can be produced without being more expensive than normal syngas in any way, even though this desired high purity would prima facie be expected to entail increasing production costs. This is because the purity of the syngas is largely determined by the purity of the

CO2/H2O feed, and provided that a feed consisting of food grade or beverage grade CCg and ion-exchanged water is chosen, very pure syngas can be produced.

The invention is illustrated further in the examples which follow.

Example 1

CO2 electrolysis

An SOEC stack consisting of 75 cells is operated at an average temperature of 700°C with pure CCy being fed to the cathode at a flow rate of 100 Nl/min C0 ₂ , while applying an electrolysis current of 50 A. Based on equation (5) above, the conversion of C0 ₂ under such conditions is 26%, i.e. the gas exiting the cathode side of the stack consists of 26% CO and 74% C0 ₂ .

Example 2

H ₂ 0 electrolysis

An SOEC stack consisting of 75 cells is operated at an average temperature of 700°C with pure steam being fed to the cathode at a flow rate of 100 Nl/min steam

(corresponding to a liquid water flow rate of approximately 80 g/min) , while applying an electrolysis current of 50 A. Based on equation (4) above, the conversion of H ₂ 0 under such conditions is 26%, i.e. the gas exiting the cathode side of the stack consists of 26% ¾ and 74% H ₂ 0. Example 3

Co-electrolysis

An SOEC stack, consisting of 75 cells, is operated at an average temperature of 700°C with a mixture of steam and

CO2 being fed to the cathode in a molar ratio of 1:1 with a total flow rate of 100 Nl/min, while applying an

electrolysis current of 50 A. In the stack, steam is electrochemically converted into ¾ according to reaction (2) above. Assuming that electrochemical conversion of CCy via reaction (1) is negligible, 52% of the fed steam is electrochemically converted into hydrogen. Were the RWGS reaction not present, the gas exiting the stack would have the following composition: 0% CO, 50% CO2, 26% ¾ and 24% ¾0. However, due to the RWGS reaction, some of the produced hydrogen will be used to generate CO. Therefore, the gas exiting the stack will actually have the following composition: 10.7% CO, 39.3% CO2, 15.3% ¾ and 34.7% H ₂ 0. The ratio of CO:¾ in the product gas is thus 1:1.43.

Example 4

Co-electrolysis An SOEC stack consisting of 75 cells is operated at an average temperature of 700°C with a mixture of steam and CO2 being fed to the cathode in a molar ratio of 41:59 with a total flow rate of 100 Nl/min, while applying an

electrolysis current of 50 A. In the stack, steam is electrochemically converted into ¾ according to reaction (2) above. Assuming that electrochemical conversion of CO2 via reaction (1) is negligible, 64% of the fed steam is electrochemically converted into hydrogen. Were the RWGS reaction not present, the gas exiting the stack would have the following composition: 0% CO, 59% CO2, 26% ¾ and 15% ¾0. However, due to the RWGS reaction, some of the produced hydrogen will be used to generate CO. Therefore, the gas exiting the stack will actually have the following composition: 13.2% CO, 45.8% CO2, 13.0% ¾ and 28.0% H ₂ 0. The ratio of CO:¾ in the product gas is thus 1.015:1.