Kinetic and scale-up studies on modular ethene production through high pressure autothermal operation

乙烯是美国生产的最大量的商品化学品之一，其通过烃类蒸汽裂解的生产占美国总能源消耗的1%。乙烯生产的替代性节能方法将对化学加工行业的能源和碳足迹产生重大影响。在该项目中，研究人员将开发用于乙烯生产的新型反应器配置，通过将其导向提高在室温下进入的乙烷和氧气进料的温度，有效地利用反应放出的热量。有待探索的反应器设计策略不仅可以减少与乙烯生产相关的能源需求和温室气体排放，还可以促进工艺模块化，使该工艺成为原料和可再生能源。除了通过无二氧化碳制造技术推进美国能源安全外，该项目还将为调查人员提供机会，通过参加休斯顿大学能源日和雪佛龙女孩工程未来日，让休斯顿地区在STEM领域代表性不足的学生参与进来。并通过开发和试点游戏模块，可以很容易地集成到8年级化学课。这项建议的首要目标是解决基本的催化剂设计，反应动力学和反应器规模扩大的挑战，在开发无CO2的乙烷氧化脱氢（ODHE）生产乙烯的方法，其中自热操作是节能反应器操作的关键。虽然ODHE的催化剂设计和动力学研究在公开文献中是常见的，但到目前为止，关于什么是最适合于这种过程的反应器设计的问题还没有得到明确解决-回答这个问题是所提出的工作的重点和主要知识价值。该研究计划结合了催化剂合成和表征，动力学研究，反应器建模和设计，以克服高压自热ODHE操作的根本挑战。该项目中探索的概念适用于各种工业相关的放热反应，并可能为更反应工程化的方法奠定基础，以提高效率，可持续性，集约化，和能源密集型化学制造工艺的模块化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过利用该基金会的知识价值和知识价值进行评估，被认为值得支持更广泛的影响审查标准。

Ethylene is one of the largest volume commodity chemicals manufactured in the United States, and its production through steam cracking of hydrocarbons accounts for up to 1% of total U.S. energy consumption. Alternative, energy efficient methods for ethylene production would have a major impact on the energy and carbon footprint of the chemical process industry. In this project, the investigators will develop novel reactor configurations for ethylene production that efficiently use the evolved heat of reaction by directing it towards increasing the temperature of ethane and oxygen feeds that enter at room temperature. Reactor design strategies to be explored not only shrink the energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions associated with ethylene production, but also facilitate process modularization, making it possible to bring the process to the feedstock and renewable energy sources. In addition to advancing U.S. energy security through CO2-free manufacturing technologies, the project will provide the investigators with the opportunity to engage students underrepresented in STEM fields from the Houston area through participation in the University of Houston Energy Day and Chevron Girls Engineering the Future Day, and by developing and piloting gaming modules that can be readily integrated into 8th grade chemistry classes.The overarching goal of this proposal is to address fundamental catalyst design, reaction kinetics, and reactor scale-up challenges in the development of CO2-free processes for ethylene production by oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE), where autothermal operation is key to energy efficient reactor operation. While catalyst design for and kinetics studies of ODHE are common in the open literature, the question as to what is the most suitable reactor design for such a process has not been clearly addressed thus far -- answering this question is the focus and primary Intellectual Merit of the proposed work. The research plan combines catalyst synthesis and characterization, kinetic studies, and reactor modeling and design to overcome the fundamental challenges of high-pressure autothermal ODHE operation. The concepts explored in this project are applicable to a variety of exothermic reactions of industrial relevance and potentially lay the foundation for a more reaction engineering-grounded approach to improving the efficiency, sustainability, intensification, and modularization of energy intensive chemical manufacturing processes.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.