I-Corps: CO2 hydrate production for large-scale CO2 sequestration

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发将二氧化碳(CO2)作为二氧化碳水合物进行隔离的技术。二氧化碳水合物是冰状固体，由二氧化碳和水组成。稳定的二氧化碳水合物在~0̊℃和中等压力(~450psi)下从二氧化碳和水的混合物中形成。二氧化碳水合物可以通过多种选择(在海床下、永久冻土下、枯竭的气田下)安全地长期隔离。这个i-Corps项目的目标是二氧化碳水合物碳捕获和封存(CCS)的最终商业化。流程工业、石油天然气工业和公用事业之间存在许多商业化合作伙伴。一个可能的项目后场景包括建立一家初创公司作为商业化工具(开发特定于行业的CCS解决方案)。成功的商业化可能会带来大量的就业机会，并有助于将美国定位为该领域的领导者。最重要的是，它将增加应对气候变化的技术和地球工程解决方案组合。该项目还将促进天然气水合物的其他应用，包括海水淡化、气体分离和氢气储存。这个i-Corps项目基于从二氧化碳和水的混合物中快速生成二氧化碳水合物的技术开发。人工合成水合物的关键技术挑战是增长速度非常慢，以及天然气到水合物的转化率很低。加速水合物形成的最先进技术包括使用昂贵且环保的化学促进剂。德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的团队已经取得了几项科学发现，并开发了多种加快水合物生长的新方法，这可能会累计使水合物的形成速度比最先进的水合物快一个数量级。该技术的具体新进展包括最近发现的水合物成核促进剂，一种增强气液界面面积和对流的技术，以及使用高导热材料来加快传热。累积起来，这些进步可能使快速、按需生产二氧化碳水合物成为可能，而不需要使用化学促进剂。该项目的智力价值在于整合了多项基础性进展，以在化学品加工行业常用的反应堆配置中实现快速水合物形成。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 I-Corps project is the development of technology to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) as CO2 hydrates. CO2 hydrates are ice-like solids, consisting of CO2 and water. Stable CO2 hydrates form at ~0 ̊C, and at moderate pressures (~450 psi) from a mixture of CO2 and water. CO2 hydrates can be safely sequestered long-term via multiple options (under seabed, under permafrost, depleted gas fields). This I-Corps project targets eventual commercialization of CO2 hydrates-based carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Many commercialization partners exist among process industries, oil-gas industry, and utilities. A likely post-project scenario involves establishing a startup company as the commercialization vehicle (which develops sector-specific CCS solutions). Successful commercialization may lead to significant employment opportunities, and contribute to positioning the US as a leader in this field. Most importantly, it will augment the portfolio of technological and geoengineering solutions to tackle climate change. This project also will stimulate other applications of gas hydrates including desalination, gas separation and hydrogen storage.This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to rapidly form CO2 hydrates from a mixture of CO2 and water. Key technological challenges underlying artificial synthesis of hydrates have been very slow growth rates, and low conversion rates of gas to hydrates. State of the art technology to speed up hydrate formation includes the use of chemical promoters, which are expensive and environmentally friendly. The team at UT Austin has made several scientific discoveries and developed multiple novel approaches to speed up growth of hydrates, which may cumulatively speed up hydrate formation by an order of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art. Specific novel advancements integrated in the proposed technology include recently discovered hydrate nucleation promoters, a technique to enhance gas-liquid interfacial area and convection, and the use of high thermal conductivity materials to speed up heat transfer. Cumulatively, these advancements may enable rapid, on-demand CO2 hydrate production without the use of chemical promoters. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the integration of multiple fundamental advancements to realize rapid hydrate formation in reactor configurations commonly used by the chemicals processing industry.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.