Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH)

规划资助：环境应用制冷剂技术中心工程研究中心（EARTH）

• 批准号: 2123852
• 负责人: Mark Shiflett
• 金额: $ 9.86万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2123852&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Planning; Grant; Engineering; Research; Center

Abstract for Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH)Part 1:PG: EARTH will bring together leaders from the research community, industry, and educational institutions to address critical scientific, engineering, workforce development, and policy issues related to the future of refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC). RAC systems are widespread throughout modern society, enabling transportation of fresh foods, storage of medicines, and cooling of buildings. The U.S. is a global leader in designing and manufacturing RAC systems, and the U.S. chemical industry has been a major innovator in creating the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants that replaced ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Given that RAC now accounts for nearly 20% of worldwide energy consumption, there is an urgent need to develop new and more energy efficient cooling technologies. At the same time, current HFC refrigerants are being phased out due to global warming concerns. There is thus a need to develop innovative new refrigerants and cooling technologies that are safe for the environment and efficient processes that enable the economical and safe recovery and reuse of millions of kilograms of deployed HFC refrigerants. EARTH will be a critical national resource to address these challenges.This planning grant will enable stakeholders to assess a variety of important topics impacting the development of alternative refrigerants and novel cooling cycles. Innovation in the global refrigerants market is often led by major U.S. companies, but the markets for their products are global and growing rapidly. Understanding this global market landscape and developing cutting edge technologies in this space are critical components of EARTH and will help the U.S. maintain its leadership in innovation and manufacturing in the strategically important refrigerants industry. EARTH will facilitate the formation of partnerships between educational institutions, industry, national labs, trade groups, and policy makers. The phase down of HFCs over the next two decades is estimated to create 150,000 new jobs and increase manufacturing by $39 billion in the U.S. while preventing global temperature from rising by 0.5 ºC. The ERC’s foundational components will go beyond research to include technical training and workforce development at all participant stages. It will foster a culture of diversity and inclusion and create value within an innovation ecosystem that will extend beyond the lifetime of the ERC.Part 2:The ERC we envision will address the basic science, engineering, education, and policy issues that are essential for meeting the many challenges facing the RAC infrastructure. Three major issues will shape the thrusts of EARTH. First, the high global warming potential of the current generation of refrigerants (HFCs) is requiring the RAC industry to again consider new fluids that balance performance, efficiency, safety, environmental concerns, and a host of other factors. The number of small molecules and their mixtures that could potentially be used in RAC cycles is almost limitless, but only a small subset have been synthesized and tested. Second, the vast majority of RAC systems are based on hundred-year-old vapor-compression technology, but new approaches including solid-state technologies that utilize magnetocaloric, electrocaloric, and mechanocaloric effects could revolutionize the field. Third, millions of kilograms of high global warming potential HFCs valued in the billions of dollars are currently in use around the world, and most consist of azeotropic mixtures. There is currently no means of separating and recovering these valuable compounds. EARTH will bring together experts in high fidelity experiments, advanced atomistic simulations, data science methods, and process design to develop novel refrigerants, energy-efficient cooling designs, and optimized HFC recovery processes. The core planning group from the University of Kansas, University of Notre Dame, University of Maryland, Lehigh University, and University of South Dakota has the needed expertise and experience to bring together a multi-disciplinary team composed of participants from academia, industry, national laboratories, professional organizations, and policy makers to prepare this proposal.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.

摘要的计划赠款：环境应用制冷剂技术中心（EARTH）第1部分：PG：地球将使研究社区，工业和教育机构的领导者聚集在一起，以解决与冷藏和空调（RAC）未来有关的关键科学，工程，劳动力发展以及与未来的政策问题。 RAC系统在整个现代社会中都广泛，可以运输新鲜食品，储存药物和建筑物的冷却。美国是设计和制造RAC系统的全球领导者，美国化学工业一直是创建氢氟化合物（HFC）制冷剂的主要创新者，该制冷剂取代了消耗臭氧的氯氟氟甲苯（CFC）。鉴于RAC现在几乎占全球能源消耗的20％，因此迫切需要开发新的节能冷却技术。同时，由于全球变暖的问题，目前的HFC制冷剂正在淘汰。因此，有必要开发创新的新制冷剂和冷却技术，这些技术对环境和有效的过程安全，这使经济和安全的复苏以及重新使用数百万公斤已部署的HFC制冷剂。地球将是应对这些挑战的关键国家资源。该计划赠款将使利益相关者能够评估影响替代制冷剂和新颖冷却周期发展的各种重要主题。全球制冷剂市场的创新通常由美国主要公司领导，但是其产品的市场是全球性的，并且迅速增长。了解这一全球市场格局并在该领域开发尖端技术是地球的关键组成部分，并将帮助美国在战略性重要的制冷剂行业中保持其在创新和制造方面的领导。地球将支持教育机构，工业，国家实验室，贸易团体和政策制定者之间的伙伴关系。据估计，在未来二十年中，HFC的阶段下降将创造150,000个新就业机会，并在美国增加制造业390亿美元，同时防止全球温度升高0.5ºC。 ERC的基本组件将超越研究，包括所有参与者阶段的技术培训和劳动力发展。它将促进多样性和包容性的文化，并在创新生态系统中创造价值，该生态系统将超出ERC的寿命。第2部分：我们设想的ERC将解决基础科学，工程，教育和政策问题，这些问题对于应对RAC基础设施面临的许多挑战至关重要。三个主要问题将影响地球的推力。首先，当前一代制冷剂（HFC）的全球变暖潜力很高，要求RAC行业再次考虑平衡性能，效率，安全性，环境问题以及其他许多因素的新效率。可能在RAC循环中使用的小分子及其混合物的数量几乎受到限制，但只有一个小子集已合成和测试。其次，绝大多数RAC系统都是基于数百年历史的蒸气压缩技术，但是新方法在内，包括利用磁性，电气和机械效应的固态技术可能会彻底改变该领域。第三，目前在全球使用了数十亿美元的数百万公斤全球高变暖潜力的HFC，最多由共聚物混合物组成。目前没有分离和恢复这些有价值的化合物的方法。 Earth将汇集高保真实验，先进的原子模拟，数据科学方法和过程设计的专家，以开发新型制冷剂，节能冷却设计和优化的HFC恢复过程。堪萨斯大学，圣母大学，马里兰州大学，利哈伊大学和南达科他大学的核心计划小组具有所需的专业知识和经验，可以将一个由学术，工业，国家实验室，专业组织和专业制造商提供了这项提议的派对奖的派遣奖的多学科团队，该团队由学术界，行业，国家实验室，专业组织和该奖项进行了促进。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。