PFI-RP: Converting waste gas into clean hydrogen for sustainable steel production

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是高效生产无碳氢气，同时减少美国钢铁行业的温室气体排放。钢铁制造会产生大量富含燃料的气体，目前这些气体都被浪费了。将建议的技术应用于钢铁制造可以高能效地利用这种浪费的资源，有可能在全球范围内减少超过5亿吨/年的二氧化碳排放。此外，该技术将提高对更绿色钢铁生产的经济吸引力。例如，在我们确定的一家工厂中，它可以每年生产价值2600万美元的氢气。此外，建议的技术还适用于利用各种工业废气、沼气和/或垃圾填埋气原料，二氧化碳净排放量为零甚至负。拟议项目的成功完成将为美国钢铁生产带来显著的经济效益，同时推动美国工业走向无碳未来。除了技术影响，拟议的项目还提供了一个难得的机会，教育新一代工程师在过程强化和可持续能源技术方面的学术研究技能和领导力、创新和创业精神。拟议的项目将解决来自最先进的铁生产过程的“废气”的低效利用问题。这些气体通常含有大量的燃料，如甲烷、一氧化碳和用二氧化碳稀释的氢气。虽然存在将这些气体转化为氢燃料和二氧化碳的传统技术，但这些技术复杂且效率低下，特别是考虑到废气的混合性质。我们开发了一种新技术，通过两个相互关联的步骤，有效地将废气转化为可隔离的二氧化碳和氢气的单独流动。我们的初步结果支持了拟议技术的可行性和吸引力。拟议的项目旨在具体解决剩余的技术差距，包括进一步优化氧化还原催化剂、大规模催化剂生产、以数据为导向改进反应器操作、用工厂的真实废气演示该工艺，以及详细的经济和环境分析。这将通过在一个钢铁生产基地部署一个小型试点装置来实现，证明了从废气中生产氢气的可行性。该项目将为项目后的商业化铺平道路。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is the efficient production of carbon free hydrogen along with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. iron and steel industry. Iron and steel manufacturing produces large amounts of fuel-rich gases that are currently wasted. Applying the proposed technology to iron and steel manufacturing can use this wasted resource with high energy efficiency, with the potential to eliminate more than 500 million tons/year of CO2 emissions worldwide. Furthermore, the technology will improve the economic attractiveness for greener iron and steel production. For instance, it can produce $26 million/year worth of H2 in a single plant we identified. Moreover, the proposed technology is applicable to utilize a variety of industrial waste gases, biogas, and/or landfill gas feedstocks with zero or even negative net CO2 emissions. Successful completion of the proposed project will lead to significant economic benefits for U.S. iron/steel production while advancing U.S. industry towards a carbon-free future. In addition to its technological impacts, the proposed project offers an exceptional opportunity to educate a new generation of engineers in academic research skills and leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship in process intensification and sustainable energy technologies.The proposed project will address the inefficient use of “waste” gases that come from state-of-the-art iron production processes. These gases often contain significant amounts of fuels such as methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen diluted with carbon dioxide. While conventional technologies exist to convert these gases into hydrogen fuel and carbon dioxide, they are complex and inefficient, particularly given the mixed nature of the waste gas. We have developed a new technology that efficiently converts the waste gas into separate streams of sequestrable carbon dioxide and hydrogen, in two interconnected steps. Our preliminary results support the viability and attractiveness of the proposed technology. The proposed project is designed to specifically address the remaining technological gaps including further optimization of the redox catalysts, large-scale catalyst production, data-driven improvement of reactor operation, demonstration of the process with a real waste gas stream from the plant, and detailed economic and environmental analyses. This will be achieved through the deployment of a small pilot unit at an iron/steel production site, demonstrating the viability of producing hydrogen from the waste gas. The project will pave the way for commercialization after the project.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.