IUCRC Planning Grant University of Colorado Boulder: Center for Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing Using Sustainable Electrification (DC-MUSE)

电气化和脱碳化学制造可以改善全球环境健康，并支持美国化学工业的经济安全和繁荣。该行业目前影响着美国GDP的25%（约5万亿美元）和440万个美国就业岗位，同时生产了世界上96%的制成品（救生药物，个人护理产品，农业肥料和农药，纺织品等）中使用的14%的化学品。遏制气候变化的全球趋势和社会压力对美国化学工业构成了迫在眉睫的威胁，因为美国目前的制造业做法不符合国际二氧化碳排放政策以及即将到来的碳税、交易、定价和处罚。例如，欧洲要求到2050年将温室气体排放量减少到1990年水平的95%，中国承诺到2060年实现碳中和。如果美国化学工业不能及时脱碳，这些政策将使美国12%的出口（约2200亿美元）处于危险之中，这也是拟议中的IUCRC的重要性。可再生能源的多样化对于确保美国在未来化学制造业的气候变化行动中的领导地位至关重要。拟议中的使用可持续电气化的脱碳化学制造中心（DC-MUSE）可以通过为部署由现场清洁能源（例如，可再生能源或氢气）和/或脱碳电网的电力供应，以及训练有素的劳动力来实施这些措施。这项规划补助金支持调查一个新的IUCRC（DC-MUSE）由两个网站组成-纽约大学（NYU）作为牵头网站和科罗拉多大学博尔德分校（CUBoulder）作为合作伙伴网站-具有互补的研究优势。CUBoulder在使用电化学系统建模的尖端工具方面具有独特的能力，这对于过程/工厂设计和电网集成至关重要。这些工厂将合作开发可扩展的电气化化学制造系统的技术基础，这些系统可以实现新的化学转化，并有助于化学工业脱碳。通过这项研究，新的知识和技术将填补以下领域的关键科学和工业空白：（1）制药和特种化学品领域，其主要需求是开发稳定和灵活的电化学反应器，其可以被利用来生产通常在中低规模生产的高价值化合物，以及（2）其主要需求是开发可缩放的反应器概念和原型以生产大规模石化产品的化学商品部门（例如，轻烯烃及其衍生物）以及它们与现场电力系统和电网的集成。基于这些目标，DC-MUSE提出了一个初步的竞争前项目组合，以支持这些行业需求：推力1。（纽约大学-铅）电催化材料;推力2。（纽约大学牵头）电化学反应器设计和反应优化;推力3。（CUBoulder-Lead）电化学系统建模和电网集成。这笔赠款将支持客户发现和规划活动，包括一个行业研讨会，这将使整体DC-MUSE研究议程的进一步完善，以及一个潜在的第一阶段IUCRC的具体初始项目集。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Electrifying and decarbonizing chemical manufacturing could improve global environmental health and support the economic security and prosperity of the US chemical industry. This industry currently impacts 25% (~$5T) of the US GDP and 4.4 million American jobs while producing 14% of all the world’s chemicals used in 96% of all manufactured goods (lifesaving drugs, personal care products, agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, textiles, etc.). Global trends and social pressures to curb climate change are a looming threat to the US chemical industry because current US manufacturing practices are not compliant with international CO2 emission policies and impending carbon taxing, trading, pricing, and penalties. For example, Europe requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 95% of 1990 levels by 2050, and China has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2060. Such policies place 12% of all US exports (~$220B) in jeopardy if the US chemical industry is not timely decarbonized, underpinning the importance of the proposed IUCRC. Diversification into renewable electricity sources is critical to ensure US leadership in climate change action in future chemical manufacturing. The proposed Center for Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing Using Sustainable Electrification (DC-MUSE) could enable this industry transformation by providing foundational cross-industry tools for the deployment of electrochemical and plasma processes powered either by on-site clean energy resources (e.g., renewables or hydrogen) and/or by electricity supply from the decarbonized power grid, and a trained workforce to implement them. This planning grant supports investigation of a new IUCRC (DC-MUSE) comprised of two sites - New York University (NYU) as the lead site and University of Colorado at Boulder (CUBoulder) as a partner site - that have complementary research strengths. CUBoulder brings unique capabilities in the use of cutting-edge tools for electrochemical systems modeling, which is crucial for process/plant design and grid integration. The sites will work collaboratively to develop technology foundations for scalable electrified chemical manufacturing systems that can enable new chemical transformations and help to decarbonize the chemical industry. Through this research, new knowledge and technologies will fill critical scientific and industrial gaps in (1)the pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals sectors, whose primary need is the development of stable and flexible electrochemical reactors that can be leveraged to produce high-value chemical compounds commonly produced on medium-to-low scales and (2) the chemical commodities sector whose primary need is the development of scalable reactor concepts and prototypes to produce large-scale petrochemical products (e.g., light olefins and their derivatives) and their integration with on-site power systems and the electricity grid. Based on these goals, DC-MUSE has proposed an initial portfolio of pre-competitive projects to support these industry needs: Thrust 1. (NYU-Lead) Electrocatalytic Materials; Thrust 2. (NYU-Lead) Electrochemical Reactor Design and Reaction Optimization; Thrust 3. (CUBoulder-Lead) Electrochemical Systems Modeling and Grid Integration. This grant will support customer discovery and planning activities, including an industry workshop, that will enable further refinement of the overall DC-MUSE research agenda as well as the specific initial set of projects for a potential Phase I IUCRC.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.