Collaborative Research: ECO-CBET: Methane Conversion by Merging Atmospheric Plasma with Transition-Metal Catalysis

合作研究：ECO-CBET：通过大气等离子体与过渡金属催化相结合进行甲烷转化

• 批准号: 2032664
• 负责人: Ryan Hartman
• 金额: $ 105.81万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2032664&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ECO; CBET; Methane

Methane is the primary component of natural gas and represents an abundant, alternative chemical feedstock to petroleum. Methane is also a potent greenhouse gas, so excess natural gas from oil fields is flared in order to avoid releasing methane into the atmosphere. Converting natural gas and excess methane into liquid fuels and chemicals would be an efficient way to use natural resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This conversion is challenging, however, when utilizing conventional thermal processes. Low temperature plasma reactor technology is an enticing tool for natural gas methane valorization to fuels and chemicals given its capability to activate hydrocarbons at much lower temperature than thermal processes. Not only does this bring potential to improve rates, but also opens the door to more desirable product selectivity. Despite its allure, practical implementation has been impeded by the complexity of the chemical, physical, and transport processes underlying the technology. This research project studies the valorization of natural gas using catalytic processes conducted in atmospheric plasmas. Little is known about the catalytic conversion of methane in plasmas, so understanding this process could translate into more sustainable chemical routes for methane conversion. The research project will be integrated with educational activities that train students to engineer solutions for sustainable energy, a future without pollution and waste, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.The research project aims to combine two technologies, plasma-promoted methane activation and transition-metal catalysis, to address methane valorization. The physical properties and chemical reactivity of atmospheric methane plasma are not well understood, nor are subsequent reactions of plasma products with transition metal complexes. Microfluidics techniques will be employed to generate plasmas with controllable properties. Then, experiments will be performed to probe the reactivity of plasmas with organic radical acceptors, to understand how plasmas interact with both organic radical acceptors and organometallic complexes, and to explore carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bond formation in methane plasmas. The ultimate objective is to quantify the reactivity of plasmas with organic radical acceptors and transition metal complexes in order to convert methane into larger alkanes, substituted arenes, and amine compounds. Scale-up and intrinsic energy efficiency present potential challenges to the implementation of plasma-assisted chemical conversion processes. This study will uncover novel approaches for increasing methane reactivity and product selectivity to levels needed for translating fundamental findings into industrial applications.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.

甲烷是天然气的主要成分，代表了石油的丰富，替代化学原料。甲烷也是一种有效的温室气体，因此爆发了油田过多的天然气，以避免将甲烷释放到大气中。将天然气和多余的甲烷转化为液体燃料和化学物质将是使用自然资源并减少温室气体排放的有效方法。 但是，在利用常规的热过程时，这种转换具有挑战性。低温等离子体反应堆技术是天然气甲烷对燃料和化学物质的诱人工具，鉴于其在温度低于热过程的温度下激活碳氢化合物的能力。这不仅带来了提高利率的潜力，而且还为更理想的产品选择性打开了大门。尽管它具有诱人的魅力，但实际实施受到了化学，物理和运输过程的复杂性的影响。 该研究项目研究了在大气等离子体中进行的催化过程的天然气的价值。对于等离子体中甲烷的催化转化知之甚少，因此了解此过程可以转化为甲烷转化的更可持续的化学途径。该研究项目将与教育活动集成，该活动将培训学生来设计可持续能源的解决方案，没有污染和浪费的未来以及减少温室气体的排放。该研究项目旨在将两种技术结合使用，血浆促进的甲烷激活和过渡 - 金属催化，以解决甲烷量化。大气甲烷血浆的物理特性和化学反应性尚不清楚，血浆产物与过渡金属复合物的随后反应也没有。将采用微流体技术来生成具有可控性能的等离子体。然后，将进行实验，以探测等离子体与有机自由基受体的反应性，以了解等离子体如何与有机自由基受体和有机金属络合物相互作用，并探索甲烷等离子体中的碳碳和碳氮键形成。最终目标是量化有机自由基受体和过渡金属配合物的等离子体的反应性，以便将甲烷转化为较大的烷烃，取代的舞台和胺化合物。扩展和内在能源效率对实施等离子辅助化学转化过程提出了潜在的挑战。这项研究将发现新的方法，以提高甲烷反应性和产品选择性对将基本发现转化为工业应用所需的水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。