STTR Phase I: Scalable thermochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to commodity chemical intermediates

这一STTR项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是将本来会释放到大气中的二氧化碳进行化学循环，转化为有用的燃料和产品，从而为许多常见产品的生产和排放提供一个闭合循环。几乎每个行业都使用石油和/或天然气，无论是通过运输还是通过塑料(例如包装)，目前还没有商业二氧化碳/碳回收工艺。目前的二氧化碳转化途径受到以下一个或多个挑战的阻碍：(A)二氧化碳转化率非常低，(B)操作温度高，(C)非选择性产物形成，以及(D)工艺的可扩展性问题。最近的研究已经实现了逆水煤气变换化学环(RWGS-CL)的概念验证。一氧化碳(CO)是合成气的主要成分，它是有选择地生产的，可通过现有工艺用作任何化学品或燃料的主干。初步的性能结果和文献研究结果表明，与其他转化二氧化碳的未来技术相比，这种工艺操作可以在很小的占地面积内带来前所未有的效率和潜在的可扩展性。RWGS-CL工艺在合理的温度下运行，具有高的二氧化碳转化率和对CO生成的高度选择性。因此，RWGS-CL过程是独特的和变革性的，因为它解决了所有主要挑战，并为在工业规模上可持续地产生更绿色的碳氢燃料铺平了道路。该项目旨在使用能够在工业规模运行的成型材料(颗粒)、捕捉RWGS-CL单元性能和大小的反应堆模型以及技术经济分析，在100倍的实验室测试范围内构建该技术的原型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR project is to chemically recycle carbon dioxide, which would otherwise be released to the atmosphere, to useful fuels and products thus providing a closed loop for production and emissions for many common products. Virtually every industry uses petroleum and/or natural gas, either through transportation or plastics (e.g., packaging), and there is no current commercial CO2 /carbon recycling process. The current routes for CO2 conversion are crippled by one or more of the following challenges: (a) very low rates of CO2 conversion, (b) high temperature of operation, (c) non-selective product formation, and (d) issues with scalability of the process.This STTR Phase I project proposes to re-purpose CO2 from a pollutant to a feedstock for fuels and chemicals. Recent research has achieved a proof-of-concept on reverse water-gas shift chemical looping (RWGS-CL). Carbon monoxide (CO), a major component of synthesis gas, is selectively produced, which can be used as the backbone to any chemical or fuel through existing processes. Preliminary performance results and literature findings indicate that this process operation could contribute to unprecedented efficiencies and potential scalability within a small footprint compared to other futuristic technologies that convert CO2. The RWGS-CL process operates at reasonable temperatures with high CO2 conversion rates and highly selective towards CO formation. The RWGS-CL process is thus, unique and transformative in that it addresses all of the major challenges and paves the way for a sustainable generation of greener hydrocarbon fuels at industrial scale. This project aims to enable prototype construction of the technology at 100 x scale of lab tests using formed materials (pellets) capable of operating at industrial scale, a reactor model to capture the performance and size of the RWGS-CL unit, and a techno-economic analysis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.