EFRI DCheM: Renewable Energy Driven Electrocatalytic Co-Conversion of CO2 and Regional Feedstocks to Chemicals and Fuels

EFRI DCheM：可再生能源驱动的二氧化碳和区域原料电催化共转化为化学品和燃料

• 批准号: 2029326
• 负责人: Paul Kenis
• 金额: $ 199.91万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2029326&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EFRI; DCheM; Renewable; Energy; Driven

This project will address the grand challenge of achieving a sustainable global society by moving towards carbon-neutral, energy-efficient, and distributable chemical manufacturing technology. The PIs will develop the scientific principles and technology to make distributed electrochemical reactors that simultaneously remediate CO2 and upgrade stranded regional feedstocks in order to generate commodity chemicals and transportation fuels. Specifically, the electrochemical process will enable the use of renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar power) to consume CO2 emissions from stationary sources (e.g., power plants, chemical refineries) but will do so with lower energy requirements. The team will accomplish this by using a single reactor to consume CO2 and to perform selective oxidation reactions that upgrade regional feedstocks (e.g., biomass, biogas) into useful building block chemicals. The PIs will develop fundamental insight into interfacial chemistry to design new catalysts for electrochemical oxidations; apply reaction engineering principles to increase the productivity and effectiveness of the reactors; and analyze the availability and costs of critical resources to identify promising sets of reactions and reactors for distinct regions in the United States. The team will benefit from the inclusion of persons from underrepresented groups among senior personnel, graduate students, and undergraduate students and will engage local K-9 native Spanish speaker, Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, and other future members of the STEM workforce through unique educational programs related to electrochemistry, manufacturing, and sustainability.The transformative nature of the proposed research resides in linking the reduction of CO2 with the oxidative upgrading of regional feedstocks in a co-electrolysis process. This effort leverages the team's recent technological advances for energy-efficient flow electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to C2-products such as ethylene and ethanol under alkaline conditions in tandem with oxidation of waste, such as glycerol from the biofuels industry. Specifically, the PIs will develop molecular insight into surface chemistry and catalysis at anodes in alkaline conditions under flow, by synthesizing and characterizing new electrocatalysts with multifunctional active sites needed for selective oxidations. The team will design, evaluate, and optimize liquid electrolyte and membrane-based co-electrolysis reactors for coupled CO2 reduction and selective oxidations with a focus on process intensification (e.g., by varying temperature, pressure, pH) for reactant-catalyst pairs. The team will use technoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessment (TEA-LCA) with spatially-resolved resource data to quantify system-level water, energy, and greenhouse gas impacts to identify potential opportunities to deploy these co-electrolysis devices via geographic information system based multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA). Constant feedback between the research thrusts will ensure that surface chemistry informs reactor design and process intensification; the performance metrics update the TEA-LCA; and TEA-LCA guides catalysis and reactor engineering efforts for promising reaction and identifies pressure points for the process. The PIs will deliver multiple co-conversion solutions, each optimized for a distinct geographical region in the US.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.

该项目将通过向碳中和、节能和可分配的化学制造技术发展，解决实现可持续发展的全球社会的巨大挑战。pi将开发科学原理和技术，制造分布式电化学反应器，同时修复二氧化碳并升级搁浅的区域原料，以生产商品化学品和运输燃料。具体来说，电化学过程将使可再生能源（如风能和太阳能）的使用能够消耗固定来源（如发电厂、化学精炼厂）排放的二氧化碳，但这样做的能源需求较低。该团队将通过使用单个反应器消耗二氧化碳并进行选择性氧化反应来实现这一目标，从而将区域原料（例如生物质，沼气）升级为有用的基本化学品。pi将发展对界面化学的基本见解，以设计新的电化学氧化催化剂；应用反应工程原理来提高反应器的生产率和效率；并分析关键资源的可用性和成本，以确定适用于美国不同地区的有前景的反应和反应堆。该团队将受益于包括高级人员，研究生和本科生中代表性不足的群体的人员，并将通过与电化学，制造和可持续性相关的独特教育计划，与当地K-9母语西班牙语人士，伊利诺伊州中部的女童子军以及其他STEM劳动力的未来成员合作。拟议研究的变革性质在于将二氧化碳的减少与共电解过程中区域原料的氧化升级联系起来。这项工作利用了该团队最近的技术进步，即在碱性条件下将二氧化碳流电催化还原为二氧化碳产品，如乙烯和乙醇，同时氧化废物，如生物燃料工业的甘油。具体来说，pi将通过合成和表征具有选择性氧化所需的多功能活性位点的新型电催化剂，深入了解碱性条件下阳极的表面化学和催化作用。该团队将设计、评估和优化液体电解质和基于膜的共电解反应器，用于耦合CO2还原和选择性氧化，重点是过程强化（例如，通过改变反应物-催化剂对的温度、压力、pH值）。该团队将使用技术经济分析和生命周期评估（TEA-LCA）和空间解析资源数据来量化系统级水、能源和温室气体影响，并通过基于多标准决策分析（GIS-MCDA）的地理信息系统确定部署这些共电解设备的潜在机会。研究重点之间的持续反馈将确保表面化学为反应器设计和过程强化提供信息；性能指标更新TEA-LCA；TEA-LCA指导催化和反应器工程工作，以进行有希望的反应，并确定过程的压力点。pi将提供多种共转换解决方案，每种解决方案都针对美国不同的地理区域进行了优化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。