PFI-TT: Separation of azeotropic refrigerant mixtures using pilot-scale extractive distillation with ionic liquid entrainer

PFI-TT：使用带有离子液体夹带剂的中试规模萃取蒸馏分离共沸制冷剂混合物

• 批准号: 2213965
• 负责人: Mark Shiflett
• 金额: $ 24.96万
• 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: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213965&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; TT; Separation; azeotropic; refrigerant

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project seeks to provide certified refrigerant reclaimers with a new technology for separating azeotropic refrigerant mixtures. The Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning, and Refrigeration (HVAC) industry tries to recover as much refrigerant as economically practical for reuse, but reclaimers are now challenged by an array of complex, multi-component mixtures that, in many cases, are not possible to separate and ultimately must be stockpiled or destroyed. The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2021 requires the phase down in production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants in the U.S. by 85 percent over the next 15 years with a focus on reducing high global warming potential gases. Currently, there are several billion kilograms of refrigerants in existing cooling systems that must be separated and recycled. Voice-of-customer data gathered in over 100 interviews indicates that a new technology for separation of azeotropic refrigerant mixtures is now needed and only about 5% of refrigerant is recovered. Outreach activities, especially toward the inclusion of underrepresented minorities and women will be supported through this project. Students will develop entrepreneurial and technology commercialization skills and work with a start-up company to take the innovation to the marketplace. The proposed project seeks to demonstrate the first pilot-scale process using extractive distillation and an ionic liquid entrainer for separating refrigerant R-410A. The refrigerant is composed of 50 wt% difluoromethane and 50 wt% pentafluoroethanee. The incumbent technology, fractional distillation, cannot separate this azeotropic mixture into pure components. Ionic liquids are salts that are liquid at room temperature, which can be designed to achieve high separation selectivity for refrigerant gases. R-410A is the largest volume refrigerant mixture sold in the U.S. Currently, there is approximately 100 million kilograms of R-410A used in residential and commercial air-conditioners and heat pumps. The difluoromethane has a relatively low global warming potential and can be repurposed into future refrigerant products. The pentafluoroethane has a high global warming potential and can be used as a fluorinated feedstock for producing new environmentally-friendly products. The key research objectives include: separation of R-410A into products with a purity of 99.5 wt% or higher, creation of a process simulation model that represents the experimental results, and testing the actual reclaimed R-410A from the industry to understand the effects of impurities. The results will be used to develop a financial model for estimating the costs for separating azeotropic refrigerants.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.

这种创新合作伙伴关系的更广泛的影响/商业潜力 - 技术翻译（PFI-TT）项目旨在为经过认证的制冷剂收回提供新技术，用于将其分离为消旋性制冷剂混合物。供暖，通风，空调和制冷（HVAC）行业试图恢复与经济上的制冷剂的重复使用一样多，但是现在，回收剂受到了一系列复杂的多组分混合物的挑战，在许多情况下，在许多情况下，不可能分离并最终被库存或销毁。 2021年的《美国创新与制造法》要求在未来15年中降低氢氟化合物制冷剂的生产和消费阶段，重点是减少全球高变暖潜在的气体。目前，现有的冷却系统中有数十亿公斤的制冷剂必须分开和回收。在100多次访谈中收集的客户语音数据表明，现在需要一种新技术，用于分离消旋制冷剂混合物，并且只有大约5％的制冷剂被回收。通过该项目将支持外展活动，尤其是为包括代表性不足的少数群体和妇女提供的活动。学生将发展创业和技术商业化技能，并与一家初创公司合作，将创新带入市场。拟议的项目旨在使用提取性蒸馏和一个离子液体填充物来证明第一个试点尺度的过程，用于分离制冷剂R-410a。该制冷剂由50 wt％的二氟甲烷和50 wt％的五氟乙烷组成。现有技术，即分数蒸馏，无法将这种共聚物混合物分为纯组件。离子液体是在室温下是液体的盐，可以设计用于制冷剂气体的高分离选择性。 R-410A是目前在美国销售的最大的制冷剂混合物，居民，商业空调和热泵中使用了大约1亿公斤R-410A。二氟甲烷具有相对较低的全球变暖潜力，可以重新利用为未来的制冷剂产品。五氟乙烷具有很高的全球变暖潜力，可以用作生产新的环保产品的氟化原料。关键的研究目标包括：将R-410A分离为纯度为99.5 wt％或更高的产品，创建代表实验结果的过程仿真模型，并测试从该行业中的实际再生R-410a来了解杂质的影响。结果将用于开发一种财务模型，以估算分离共济会制冷剂的成本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来诚实地表示支持。