SBIR Phase I: High-efficiency, electrified reverse-water gas shift for sustainable fuels production

小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将直接和立即降低电子燃料（电燃料）或从电力，二氧化碳和氢气中提取的燃料的长期成本。该过程产生的电子燃料代表了航空，航运和其他具有挑战性的运输领域化石燃料的重要替代品。该系统的社会影响将允许低碳甚至碳中和的、直接替代化石燃料的电子燃料。大规模应用于航空业，这项技术每年可以减少大约1千兆吨（Gt）的温室气体排放。将电子燃料的使用扩展到其他行业，如航运和长途地面运输，每年可减少多达3-5 Gt的排放。从商业角度来看，如果能够以经济有效的方式制造，该项目中开发的电子燃料可以为这些领域价值数万亿美元的化石燃料市场提供可行的替代方案。该研究将展示一种解决方案，可以大幅降低生产电子燃料的资本成本和运营成本。该SBIR一期项目建造并演示了一个用于高温逆水煤气变换（RWGS）工艺的实验室规模反应器，该工艺以电力作为唯一能源。尽管RWGS反应具有减少排放的潜力，但由于所需的高温以及在传统化学反应器中实现均匀性的困难，RWGS反应尚未得到广泛部署。该项目中提出的微结构材料在实验室规模的初始实验中显示出前所未有的反应速率和工艺强度。该研究将集中在改善这些材料及其耐久性，并将其纳入一个集成的反应堆系统。该技术项目将包括：（1）开发反应堆的多尺度模型，以优化反应堆材料的几何形状;（2）原型制作和制造优化的反应堆材料;（3）根据需要用涂层和活性金属修改微结构材料;（4）测试反应堆系统，以优化反应。在项目结束时，该系统将准备集成到一个更大的试点规模的系统，应该解锁二氧化碳和氢衍生产品的前所未有的成本降低和更广泛的应用范围内的绿色化学。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to directly and immediately lower the long-term costs of e-fuels (electrofuels), or fuels derived from electricity, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The e-fuels produced by the process represent an important alternative for fossil fuels in aviation, shipping, and other areas of transportation that are challenging to electrify. The societal impact of the system would allow low-carbon or even carbon-neutral, drop-in replacement e-fuels for fossil fuels. Applied at scale to the aviation sector, this technology could enable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of roughly 1 Gigaton (Gt) annually. Extending e-fuels usage into additional sectors such as shipping and long-haul ground transportation could enable up to 3-5 Gt annual reductions in emissions. Commercially, the e-fuels developed in this project could provide a viable alternative for a multi-trillion-dollar market for fossil fuels in these sectors if they can be made cost effectively. The research would demonstrate a solution that can achieve substantially lower capital costs and operating costs of producing e-fuels. This SBIR Phase I project builds and demonstrates a bench-scale reactor for a high-temperature reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) process with electricity as the only energy source. Despite its potential to mitigate emissions, the RWGS reaction has not been widely deployed due to the high temperatures required and the difficulty in achieving uniformity within conventional chemical reactors. The micro-structured materials presented in the project have shown unprecedented reaction rates and process intensity in initial experiments at the lab-scale. The research will focus on improving these materials, and their durability and incorporating them into an integrated reactor system. The technical project will include: (1) developing a multi-scale model of the reactor to optimize the geometry of the reactor materials; (2) prototyping and fabricating the optimized reactor materials; (3) modifying the micro-structured materials with coatings and active metals as needed; and (4) testing of the reactor system to optimize the reaction. At the end of the project, the system will be ready for integration into a larger pilot-scale system that should unlock unprecedented cost reductions for carbon dioxide and hydrogen derived products and broader applications within green chemistry.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.