GCR: Transition to green energy in gas-producing regions: How the convergence of Engineering, Social Sciences and Geoscience can enable carbon-free H2 technologies

GCR：天然气生产地区向绿色能源转型：工程、社会科学和地球科学的融合如何实现无碳氢气技术

• 批准号: 2317726
• 负责人: Dimitrios Papavassiliou
• 金额: $ 360万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2028-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317726&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GCR; Transition; green; energy; gas

The vision of this project is to enable the transition to green energy in gas-producing regions using a unique proposition: To engage local communities in the co-development of research goals related to hydrogen energy transition. This effort will involve cutting-edge capabilities in producing hydrogen from natural gas in a way that does not produce carbon-containing gases that pollute the environment. The project will use social science to guide engineering and geoscience research, based on issues, perceived risks, and interests of rural communities that are expected to be immediately impacted by a transition to hydrogen energy. By identifying and clearly articulating the needs of rural communities, including members of Indigenous communities, researchers will develop viable ways to pursue hydrogen production and storage research. In this manner, the project will discover how to utilize the resources of a state like Oklahoma, which has significant oil and gas production, to generate green energy. Enabling a region rich in fossil-fuel resources to use these to create a hydrogen-based economy can help create a diversified and robust free market economy, less prone to boom-and-bust cycles. It can also help develop high-technology, skill-intensive new industries in the production, storage, and distribution of hydrogen.Most hydrogen today is produced in oil refineries or coal power generation plants through the century-old steam methane reforming (SMR) process that emits large amounts of carbon dioxide. For zero-carbon emissions during SMR, carbon dioxide would have to be captured and sequestered, but this approach adds cost and is not feasible in all areas. Truly green hydrogen can be produced with electrolysis using power only from renewable sources, but this technology is also quite costly and requires clean water and scarce materials as electrodes. This project focuses on an alternative path, one more appropriate for gas-producing regions in the US: catalyst-assisted methane pyrolysis, where methane decomposes directly into hydrogen and solid carbon (with zero carbon dioxide production). The solid carbon byproduct can be utilized in other industries. Yet, because of the history of the fossil fuel industry and because of potential resistance to novel technologies, any viable research and development program will need to be calibrated to local geological, social, and economic conditions. How can we formulate a hydrogen-focused research model that considers the special social and economic conditions of a state that depends on oil and gas production? Addressing this challenging question requires a deep understanding of intersecting social and economic factors involved in an energy transition, including decoding potential new vulnerabilities or other negative impacts that could be created by decarbonization. This project will investigate local perceptions of the energy transition and use these findings to fine tune research goals to address the points of concern.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.

该项目的愿景是使用独特的命题来实现产生天然气区域的绿色能源的过渡：使当地社区参与与氢能过渡有关的研究目标的共同开发。这项工作将涉及以不产生污染环境的含碳气体的方式生产天然气的最先进能力。该项目将使用社会科学来指导工程和地球科学研究，基于问题，感知的风险以及农村社区的利益，预计将立即受到向氢能过渡的影响。通过确定并清楚地阐明农村社区的需求，包括土著社区的成员，研究人员将开发可行的方法来从事氢生产和储存研究。通过这种方式，该项目将发现如何利用具有大量石油和天然气生产的俄克拉荷马州等州的资源来产生绿色能源。使一个拥有丰富的化石燃料资源的地区能够使用这些地区来创造基于氢的经济，这可以帮助创造多样化和强大的自由市场经济，而不太容易发生繁荣和狂热的周期。它还可以帮助开发氢的高科技，技能密集型新行业。当今，最多的氢是通过发射大量二氧化碳的百年蒸汽甲烷改革（SMR）工艺生产的。对于SMR期间零碳排放，必须捕获和隔离二氧化碳，但是这种方法增加了成本，并且在所有区域都不可行。真正的绿色氢只能使用可再生能源的电力来产生电解，但是该技术也很昂贵，需要清洁的水和稀缺材料作为电极。该项目的重点是一种替代路径，这是一种更适合美国气体产生区域的替代路径：催化剂辅助的甲烷热解，甲烷直接将其直接分解为氢和固体碳（二氧化碳的生产零）。固体碳副产品可用于其他行业。然而，由于化石燃料行业的历史以及由于对新技术的潜在抵抗，任何可行的研发计划都将需要校准当地的地质，社会和经济状况。我们如何制定以氢为中心的研究模型，以考虑依赖石油和天然气生产的州的特殊社会和经济状况？解决这个具有挑战性的问题需要深入了解能源过渡中涉及的社会和经济因素，包括解码潜在的新脆弱性或脱碳化可能造成的其他负面影响。该项目将调查当地对能源过渡的看法，并利用这些发现来微调研究目标，以解决关注点。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，认为值得通过评估来获得支持。