RII Track-2 FEC:Cost-effective Conversion of Natural Gas and Biomass to Hydrogen and Performance Carbons

RII Track-2 FEC：将天然气和生物质经济高效地转化为氢气和高性能碳

• 批准号: 2218070
• 负责人: Steven Crossley
• 金额: $ 400万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218070&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; FEC; Cost; effective

In this multidisciplinary and bi-institutional collaborative project, researchers from the University of Oklahoma and Iowa State University will investigate fundamental principles that will accelerate the development of sustainable and cost-effective processes for production of carbon-free or carbon-negative hydrogen and value-added advanced materials, including carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers. In the past, processes to obtain these advanced materials have been developed based on niche high-value solid products, without focusing on the value or utilization of the gaseous by-product at a large scale. Here, the emphasis is in the large-scale and low-cost production of CO2-free hydrogen. Namely, the project will focus on enhancing hydrogen yields from abundant natural gas resources using earth-abundant metals as catalytic materials, which need to be reclaimed from the solid product for environmental and technoeconomic reasons. Therefore, a central part of the project is the optimization of hydrogen yield and catalyst recyclability. A secondary but equally important part from a technoeconomic standpoint is the property optimization of the resulting performance carbon materials that could be employed in large-scale applications. In the latter half of the project, other emerging high-impact technologies, such as carbon-free ammonia production and environmentally benign energy from waste plastics will also be explored.This project includes researchers with complementary expertise ranging from experimental and theoretical modeling and technoeconomic modeling of the catalytic processes to materials synthesis and characterization of reactive catalytic surfaces as well as characterization of the produced carbon nanomaterials. The research plan contemplates experimental kinetics based on realistic models with specified sequences of elementary steps, characterization of the materials and processes at the nanoscale, and computational analysis ranging from first-principles density functional theory (DFT) and ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) calculations. Machine learning and artificial intelligence methods will be incorporated in the project to connect the various modeling scales and predict promising surface structures. This project will also carry a significant community outreach component, including research opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate students, as well as workshops with hands-on activities aimed at high school students to better educate students on the importance of technology in energy generation while avoiding or minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. The team will pair with regional MSI’s and tribal colleges to create research opportunities for underrepresented groups, such as Native American students, to encourage and empower them to pursue graduate degrees in engineering.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.

在这个多学科和双机构合作项目中，来自俄克拉荷马大学和爱荷华州立大学的研究人员将研究基本原理，这些原理将加速开发可持续的、具有成本效益的生产无碳或负碳氢和增值先进材料的工艺，包括碳纳米管和碳纳米纤维。过去，获得这些先进材料的工艺是基于小众高价值固体产品开发的，而没有大规模关注气态副产品的价值或利用。在这里，重点是大规模和低成本地生产无二氧化碳的氢气。也就是说，该项目将侧重于利用地球上丰富的金属作为催化材料，从丰富的天然气资源中提高氢气产量，出于环境和技术经济原因，需要从固体产品中回收金属。因此，该项目的核心部分是优化产氢率和催化剂的可回收性。从技术经济的角度来看，次要但同样重要的部分是可以大规模应用的性能碳材料的性能优化。在项目的后半段，还将探索其他新兴的高影响技术，如无碳氨生产和废塑料的环保能源。该项目包括具有互补专业知识的研究人员，从催化过程的实验和理论建模、技术经济建模到材料合成和活性催化表面的表征，以及所生产的碳纳米材料的表征。该研究计划考虑基于具有指定基本步骤序列的现实模型的实验动力学，纳米尺度上材料和工艺的表征，以及从第一性原理密度泛函理论（DFT）和ab-initio分子动力学（AIMD）计算范围内的计算分析。该项目将纳入机器学习和人工智能方法，以连接各种建模尺度并预测有前途的表面结构。该项目还将包含一个重要的社区外展组成部分，包括为代表性不足的本科生提供研究机会，以及针对高中生的实践活动研讨会，以更好地教育学生了解技术在能源生产中的重要性，同时避免或尽量减少温室气体排放。该团队将与地区MSI和部落学院合作，为代表性不足的群体（如美国原住民学生）创造研究机会，鼓励并授权他们攻读工程学研究生学位。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。