SBIR Phase II: Internal Combustion Engines as Small Scale Chemical Plants for Compact, Low Cost Gas-to-Liquids Systems to Reduce Methane Flaring

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是消除天然气燃烧的浪费和污染实践，使用低成本的分布式微型化工厂，将改装的汽车发动机用作小型压缩机和化学反应器。偏远地区生产的1400多亿立方米天然气被燃烧(燃烧)。这些天然气在美国价值19亿美元，全球价值184亿美元，产生超过4亿吨二氧化碳(CO2)当量排放，以及严重的空气污染(即颗粒物、一氧化碳、硫氧化物和氮氧化物)。目前，没有经济上可行的解决方案来解决燃烧问题。压缩或液化天然气导致高得令人望而却步的运营成本，而传统的气液化学转化系统对于偏远燃烧地点所需的小规模来说并不划算。将美国燃烧的天然气转化为液体化学品，每年将为美国经济带来超过60亿美元的附加值。该项目的影响可能超越这一具体应用，因为它可能是实现燃料或化学品的低成本、分布式合成的垫脚石，或避免来自其他搁浅资源的废物，如废弃生物质和减少的可再生能源。这个SBIR二期项目计划将批量生产的汽车发动机转换为化学反应器和压缩机，以取代大型定制的化学工艺设备，从而降低天然气燃烧的成本。基于发动机的反应堆系统寻求在井口附近将伴生气体加工成甲醇。甲烷是一种高价值的化学品，可以运输到市场上，消除相关的温室气体和污染物排放。该项目的目标是通过在多循环发动机中测试基于发动机的合成技术，扩大第一阶段的单循环示范，提供商业合作伙伴现场试验所需的信息。这项工作的目标是严格测试基于发动机的反应堆，该反应堆提供稳健的运行和高吞吐量和高转化率，这是实现有前途的经济所必需的。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 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to eliminate the wasteful and polluting practice of natural gas flaring using low-cost, distributed, mini chemical plants utilizing modified automotive engines as small compressors and chemical reactors. More than 140 billion cubic meters of natural gas produced in remote regions is flared (burned). This quantity of gas is valued $1.9 billion in the US and $18.4 billion globally and generates more than 400 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions, as well as significant air pollution (i.e., particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides). Currently, there are no economically-viable solutions to address the flaring problem. Compressing or liquefying the natural gas leads to prohibitively high operating costs, while conventional gas-to-liquid chemical conversion systems are not cost effective for the small scale required for remote flaring sites. Converting the flared gas in the US to liquid chemicals would result in more than $6 billion/year of added value for the economy. The impact of the project may extend beyond this specific application as it may be a stepping stone to the low cost, distributed synthesis of fuels or chemicals or to avoiding waste from other stranded resources like waste biomass and curtailed renewable power. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to convert mass-produced automotive engines into chemical reactors and compressors that replace large, custom-made chemical process equipment, thus enabling cost reductions in the flaring of natural gas. The engine-based reactor system seeks to process associated gas into methanol near the wellhead. Methane is a high value chemical that can be transported to market, eliminating the associated greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions. The objectives of this project are to expand the single-cycle demonstration in Phase I by testing the engine-based synthesis technology in a multiple-cycle engine, providing the information required by commercial partners for a field pilot. The goal of this work is to rigorously test an engine-based reactor that provides robust operation with high throughput and high conversion per pass, which are required to achieve promising economics.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.