PFI-RP: Low-Pressure Storage and Separation of Carbon Dioxide and Methane in Biogas to Enable the Use of Renewable Sources

这个创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是一个系统，它能够创造下一代燃料储存/输送储罐，允许美国大片地区将生物废弃物(沼气)更大规模地转化为具有商业重要性的可再生天然气。目前迫切需要用可再生燃料取代汽车化石燃料。在美国，一个可以立即实现的步骤是从生物垃圾中利用不同等级的可再生天然气，以及从剩余电力中提取可再生氢气。低压储存可以将这些燃料输送给全国的天然气汽车运营商，即使在没有天然气电网的情况下也是如此。该项目提供了对低压车载气体存储的基本见解，以及允许系统作为燃料存储/输送系统和气体分离器按需最佳运行的流程和协议。该项目使市政当局能够使用沼气，即使他们没有管道级可再生天然气(去除二氧化碳)处理器或将天然气压缩到加油站压力的能力。该项目还使社区能够销售当地生产的可再生能源。该项目寻求开发、演示一种天然气储罐，并将其推向市场，该储气罐可以配置为双按需天然气储存和分离系统，用于储存和输送燃料。该储气罐还将对低等级可再生天然气中的二氧化碳进行车载分离，以产生高等级可再生天然气。气罐的设计将填补在详细了解混合物吸附到多孔材料中的关键知识空白。该团队建议建立一个实验、理论和计算框架，以产生新的设计原则，在类似于车辆预期的条件下实现气体的最佳储存、输送和分离。广泛的多组分三维(3D)吸附等温面将通过实验和计算进行研究，以获得不同材料和吸附/解吸循环路径的性能指标。该团队还试图了解共吸附气体混合物的行为以及它们与吸附剂的相互作用。该项目旨在：通过研究产生3D等温线的混合物的共吸附来创建气体储存/分离系统的实验室模型，为其解吸建立动力学基准，确定气体储存和分离的最佳方案，并在原型汽车油箱上演示系统，包括多次填充/清空/分离循环，评估油罐再生程序。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 Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is a system that enables the creation of next-generation fuel storage/delivery tanks that permit vast areas of the U.S. transform biowaste (biogas) into commercially-important, renewable natural gas on a larger scale. There is a pressing need to replace automotive fossil fuels with renewable fuels. One immediately realizable step in the U.S. is to tap into renewable natural gas of variable grades from biowaste as well as renewable hydrogen from surplus electricity. Low-pressure storage can deliver these fuels to natural gas vehicle operators nationwide, even when off the natural gas grid. This project provides both fundamental insights into low-pressure onboard gas storage and the processes and protocols that permit a system to optimally function on demand both as a fuel storage/delivery system and as a gas separator. The project enables municipalities to use biogas even when they do not have a pipeline-grade renewable natural gas (removal of carbon dioxide) processor or the ability to compress natural gas to fueling-station pressures. The project also enables communities to market locally produced renewable energy.The project seeks to develop, demonstrate, and bring to the marketplace a natural gas tank that can be configured as a dual, on-demand gas storage and separation system for storage and delivery of fuels. The tank will also perform on-board separation of carbon dioxide from low-grade renewable natural gas to generate high-grade renewable natural gas. The gas tank design will fill a critical knowledge gap in the detailed understanding of the adsorption of mixtures into porous materials. The team proposes to build an experimental, theoretical, and computational framework that will lead to new design principles for optimal storage, delivery, and separation of gases in conditions similar to what is expected in a vehicle. Extensive multi-component 3-dimensional (3D) adsorption isotherm surfaces will be studied experimentally and computationally to obtain performance metrics for different materials and adsorption/desorption cycle paths. The team also seeks to understand the behavior of co-adsorbing gas mixtures and their interaction with adsorbents. The project seeks to: create laboratory models of gas storage/separation systems by investigating co-adsorption of mixtures producing 3D isotherms, establish kinetic benchmarks for their desorption, identify optimal protocols for gas storage and separation, and demonstrate a system on a prototype automotive tank, including multiple fill/empty/separation cycles, assessing tank regeneration procedures.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.