EFRI DCheM: Distributed solar energy harvesting for carbon-free ammonia synthesis

EFRI的这一分布式化学制造项目旨在为在农场附近生产化肥以及避免当前工业标准氨合成过程中的大量温室气体排放提供科学和技术基础。小规模的分布式化肥制造对美国农村地区和世界上许多其他获得化肥有限的地区至关重要。太阳能驱动的无碳分布式小规模氨生产战略为农业社区提供了一个新的商业模式平台。农场附近的分布式化肥制造为重大的全球影响提供了两条相互交织的道路：一条是减少化肥生产和运输过程中的碳排放，另一条是让农业和工业利益相关者参与进来，探索在美国农村社区以及遭受粮食不安全的低收入国家提供具有成本效益的化肥的最佳方法和适当的规模。该项目的目的不是取代现有的工业合成氨基础设施。相反，目标是通过为选定的农村地区实现可持续的分布式化肥制造过程来满足未来增加的部分化肥需求，例如印第安人部落经营的农场，其规模具有后勤和经济意义。该基础研究项目开创了光增强热催化的概念，在常温常压下的液体间歇反应器中进行光催化反应，而是在中等温度和相对低的压力下在连续流动的气固反应器中进行光催化反应。因此，这项工作将为从根本上理解导致光增强氨形成速率的基本物理和表面化学奠定基础。除了开发针对光相互作用进行优化的新型催化材料和催化剂结构外，该项目还通过在新型光催化反应器的催化器板内均匀分布光来带来反应器设计的重大创新。以可再生能源为动力的电解水提供了所需的过程，氢和氮从空气中分离出来，并进一步转化为肥料，如氨水、氨基甲酸盐或尿素。太阳光谱增强的热催化研究成果，结合该项目的社区和课程参与方法，将在三个方面促进学术研究：(1)对催化剂表面光增强氮活化的物理原理的基本了解；(2)基于可再生氢的分布式氨合成和化肥生产的集成系统的设计和建模；以及(3)培训模块的原型、试验和评估，以向利益相关者传达创新并走向实施。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。

This EFRI Distributed Chemical Manufacturing project seeks to provide the scientific and technical foundations for producing fertilizer close to the farm and for the avoidance of the significant greenhouse gas footprint of the current industrial standard ammonia synthesis process. Small-scale distributed fertilizer manufacturing is vital for rural areas of the U.S. and for many other regions of the world where access to fertilizer is limited. The solar energy-driven and carbon-free strategy of distributed, small-scale ammonia production provide a platform for new business models for agricultural communities. Distributed fertilizer manufacturing close to the farm offers two intertwined pathways for significant global impact: one toward decreasing the carbon emissions during production and transportation of fertilizer, and another toward engaging agricultural and industrial stakeholders and exploring the best methods and appropriate scales for providing cost-effective access to fertilizer in rural communities here in the U.S. as well as in low-income countries suffering from food insecurity. The project’s aims are not to replace the existing industrial ammonia synthesis infrastructure. Instead, the goal is to cover part of the future increased demand for fertilizer by enabling a sustainable distributed fertilizer manufacturing process for select rural locations such as farms operated by NativeAmerican Indian tribes on a scale where it makes logistical and economic sense.Th fundamental research project pioneers the concept of photo-enhanced thermal catalysis, conducting photocatalytic reactions not in a liquid phase batch reactor at ambient temperature and pressure, as is the general practice, but in a continuous flow gas-solid reactor at moderate temperatures and relatively low pressures. As such, this work will lay the foundation for a fundamental understanding of the underlying physics and surface chemistry that leads to photo-enhanced ammonia formation rates. Besides developing novel catalytic materials and catalyst architectures optimized for light interaction, the project also brings significant innovation to reactor design by distributing light uniformly within catalyst plates in a new type of photocatalytic reactor. Renewable energy-powered electrolysis of water provides the required process hydrogen and nitrogen is separated from the air and further converted into fertilizer, such as aqueous ammonia, carbamate, or urea. The solar-spectrum-enhanced thermal catalysis research results, combined with the project’s community and curricular engagement approach, will advance scholarship on three fronts: (1) fundamental understanding of the physics of photo-enhanced nitrogen activation on catalytic surfaces; (2) design and modeling of an integrated system for renewable-hydrogen-based distributed ammonia synthesis and fertilizer production; and (3) prototyping, piloting and assessment of training modules to convey the innovations to stakeholders and move towards implementation.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.