I-Corps: Modular electrolyzers to transform methane to liquids

I-Corps：将甲烷转化为液体的模块化电解槽

• 批准号: 2330685
• 负责人: Tobias Hanrath
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330685&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Modular; electrolyzers; transform; methane

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of modular electrolyzers that transform distributed methane emissions from an environmental liability to a feedstock for chemical products. With almost 80 times the warming potential of CO2, methane is a short-lived climate force that disproportionally impacts climate change in the near term. Methane emissions from large, centralized sources (e.g., refineries) can be processed with established methane-to-liquids (MTL) plants. However, scaling down conventional MTL plants for distributed methane sources is not viable economically. The development of modular systems that may be deployed to mitigate emissions from more distributed sources (e.g., landfills or abandoned gas wells) addresses an important unmet need in the effort to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed technology is aimed at converting waste methane to value-added chemicals at ambient conditions and may provide economic advantage for customers and environmental/societal benefit by reducing emissions that would otherwise contribute to climate change. The commercialization potential of electrochemical methane conversion may provide important guidance toward effective technology development to address the grand challenge of methane emissions reduction.This I-Corps project is based on the development of modular methane-to-liquid electrolyzers. Drawing on inspiration from methane-eating bacteria, the proposed technology development will leverage recent advances in additive manufacturing and nanostructured materials to create programmable reaction environments optimized for forming and separating methanol. The proposed technology focuses on converting methane to value-added products like methanol at ambient temperature and pressure using pulsed potential electrocatalysis (PPC). In this system, a pulsed voltage or a pulsed light source is applied to a catalyst that activates and converts methane to value-added products. Preliminary results show that pulsing a catalyst with voltage or light stimulus enables control over surface reaction processes. Controlling surface reaction processes enables enhancement of methane conversion activity and selectivity of the final, valorized product. In addition, it may be possible to tailor the pulse profile to match a specific inflow gas composition and control the composition of the final value-added product. The proposed electrochemical conversion affords the usage of modular reactors that may operate at different methane in-flow conditions. Current methane conversion technologies such as steam methane reforming require heavy infrastructure, high capital costs, and usage at large scales, however, the proposed modular, pulsed electrochemical reactors have the potential to work at more moderate methane in-flow scales. This presents a competitive advantage for modular, electrochemical reactors because typical methane flare sites operate at small, distributed scales that are often unsuitable for large-scale steam methane reforming.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.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发模块化电解槽，将分布式甲烷排放从环境责任转化为化学产品的原料。甲烷的升温潜能值几乎是二氧化碳的80倍，是一种短暂的气候力量，在短期内对气候变化产生负面影响。 来自大型、集中式排放源的甲烷排放（例如，炼油厂）可以用已建立的甲烷制液体（MTL）装置进行处理。 然而，按比例缩小用于分布式甲烷源的常规MTL工厂在经济上是不可行的。 开发模块化系统，可用于减少来自更多分布式源的排放（例如，垃圾填埋场或废弃的威尔斯气井）解决了在减少温室气体排放的努力中未得到满足的重要需求。拟议技术旨在将废弃甲烷在环境条件下转化为增值化学品，并可通过减少可能导致气候变化的排放量为客户提供经济优势和环境/社会效益。 电化学甲烷转化的商业化潜力可以为有效的技术开发提供重要的指导，以应对甲烷减排的巨大挑战。从食甲烷细菌中汲取灵感，拟议的技术开发将利用增材制造和纳米结构材料的最新进展，创造可编程的反应环境，优化甲醇的形成和分离。该技术的重点是在环境温度和压力下使用脉冲电位电催化（PPC）将甲烷转化为甲醇等增值产品。在该系统中，脉冲电压或脉冲光源被施加到催化剂上，该催化剂活化甲烷并将其转化为增值产品。初步结果表明，脉冲催化剂与电压或光刺激，使控制表面反应过程。控制表面反应过程能够提高甲烷转化活性和最终的有价值产物的选择性。此外，可以定制脉冲轮廓以匹配特定的流入气体成分并控制最终增值产品的成分。 所提出的电化学转化提供了可以在不同甲烷流入条件下操作的模块化反应器的使用。目前的甲烷转化技术，如蒸汽甲烷重整，需要沉重的基础设施，高资本成本，并在大规模的使用，然而，所提出的模块化，脉冲电化学反应器有可能在更温和的甲烷流入规模工作。这为模块化电化学反应器提供了竞争优势，因为典型的甲烷火炬站点通常以小规模、分布式规模运行，不适合大规模蒸汽甲烷重整。该奖项反映了NSF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。