GOALI: Membrane Contactor Reactors for Environmental Applications

0968159吨智能价值全国约产生约2.5毫米立方英尺/分钟的垃圾填埋气(LFG)。垃圾焚烧天然气可能是一种重要的可再生燃料，因为它通常含有50%以上的甲烷(CH4)。不幸的是，今天很大一部分LFG是燃烧的。其余的用于发电和中型BTU燃气型(例如，用于锅炉)应用。垃圾填埋气利用的主要障碍之一是其各种腐蚀性污染物，如卤素和含硫化合物，这些污染物需要频繁地对发电设备进行维修，并可能导致最终故障。最糟糕的是，在燃烧或发电过程中，卤素和含硫污染物被排放到大气中，极大地造成了空气污染，特别是酸雨。这些污染物在燃烧前从垃圾填埋气中去除是一个困难的问题，因为它们的范围很广，而且它们的存在是微量的。这些因素给传统的清理技术带来了困难，事实证明，这些技术对垃圾填埋气的清理无效。PIS计划开发一种适用于垃圾填埋气清理的新型催化氧化技术，该技术基于具有氧化纳米催化剂的孔流反应器(PoFR)的概念。因此，如果开发出经济高效地去除垃圾填埋气有毒污染物的工艺，就可以实现经济、环境和能源方面的优势。该项目的重点是对在这种反应器中发生的复杂反应和传输过程的基础研究；一项重大的基础科学进展将是理解和模拟垃圾焚烧中遇到的复杂杂原子化合物的催化燃烧。正是这种更好的基本理解将导致POFR概念的进一步技术发展所需的主要技术进步。该项目将与行业合作伙伴M&P和GCE合作开发。M&amp；P是一家致力于这些新材料的开发和应用的无机薄膜制造商。GCE是一家专业从事垃圾填埋气收集利用的工程公司。这个研究项目将为研究生和本科生提供教育经验和培训，因为他们将准备和表征新材料，并学习大量最先进的计算和实验技术。该项目还将为研究生和本科生提供与工业研究人员互动的机会。南加州大学的城市环境提供了与该地区各种2-4年制大学合作的机会，其中几所大学主要是少数族裔院校。PIS计划招募合格的本科生作为暑期实习生，并可能作为即将到来的研究生。他们计划通过同行评议的出版物、在技术会议上的发言以及在网上提供所有报告来传播我们的工作成果。他们还将利用南加州大学不断发展的本科课程计划，该计划强调纵向和横向一体化的学位项目，由与每门核心化学工程课程相关的重点特定的实验/实验室模块组成。PIs设想将研究成果和他们工作的各个方面整合为反应堆分析、运输现象和分离课程的学位项目。这种催化反应器技术将经济有效地去除垃圾焚烧天然气中的有毒污染物，提供显著的经济、环境和能源优势，并将使垃圾焚烧天然气(以及整个沼气)充分发挥其作为一种宝贵的可再生燃料的潜力。除了将注意力集中在一个重要的新颖的反应堆概念上，这个项目还将产生基本的见解，这将影响更广泛的纳米多孔介质中运输和反应领域的知识库，并可能催化该领域的新思维和快速新进展。该项目由化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统司(CBET)和工业创新和伙伴关系司(IIP)支持。

0968159TsotsisIntellectual MeritNationwide about ~2.5 MM ft3/min of landfill gas (LFG) is generated. LFG is potentially an important renewable fuel, as it typically contains more than 50% methane (CH4). Unfortunately, today a large fraction of the LFG is flared. The rest is utilized for electric power generation, and for medium BTU gas-type (e.g., use in boilers) applications. One of the major roadblocks to the utilization of LFG is its miscellaneous corrosive contaminants, e.g., halogen and sulfur containing compounds, which necessitate frequent energy producing equipment servicing, and may lead to eventual failure. Worst of all, halogen and sulfur containing contaminants are emitted to the atmosphere, during flaring or energy production, contributing significantly to air pollution, particularly to acid rain. The removal of these contaminants from LFG prior to combustion is a difficult problem, because of their wide range, and their presence at trace amounts. These factors present difficulties for conventional clean-up technologies, which have proven ineffective for LFG clean-up. The PIs plan to develop a novel catalytic oxidation technology appropriate for LFG clean-up, based on the concept of a pore-flow reactor (PoFR) endowed with an oxidation nanocatalyst. Thus economical, environmental, and energy advantages can be realized, if a process is developed that cost-effectively removes the LFG toxic contaminants. The emphasis in this project is on fundamental investigations of the complex reaction and transport processes that occur in such a reactor; a major fundamental scientific advance will be understanding and modeling the catalytic combustion of the complex heteroatom compounds encountered in LFG. It is such better fundamental understanding that will lead to the main technological advances needed for the further technical development of the PoFR concept. The project will be developed with collaboration with industrial partners M&P and GCE. M&P is an inorganic membrane manufacturer dedicated to the development and application of these novel materials. GCE is an Engineering Company specializing in LFG collection and utilization. Broader ImpactsThis research project will provide educational experiences and training for the graduate and undergraduate students as they will prepare and characterize novel new materials and learn a host of state-of-the-art computational and experimental techniques. The project will also provide the graduate and undergraduate students with the opportunity to interact with industrial researchers. The urban setting of USC affords the opportunity to work with a variety of 2-4 year colleges in the area, several of which are predominantly minority Institutions. The PIs plan to recruit qualified undergraduates as summer interns, and potentially as incoming graduate students. They plan to disseminate the results of our work through peer reviewed publications, presentations at technical meetings, and by making all reports available on the Web. They will also take advantage of the ever-evolving undergraduate curriculum program at USC, which emphasizes vertically- and horizontally-integrated degree projects consisting of emphasis-specific experimental/laboratory modules associated with each core Chemical Engineering course. The PIs envision integrating research findings and aspects of their work as the degree projects in the Reactor Analysis, Transport Phenomena, and Separation courses. This catalytic reactor technology will cost-effectively remove the toxic contaminants from LFG, offer significant economical, environmental, and energy advantages, and will allow LFG (and biogas in general) to gain its full potential as a valuable renewable fuel. In addition to focusing attention on an important novel reactor concept, this project will also generate fundamental insight, which will impact the knowledge-base of the broader field of transport and reaction in nanoporous media, and is likely to catalyze new thinking and rapid new advances in the area.This project is being supported by the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems Division (CBET) and the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP).