I-Corps: Modular electrolyzers to transform methane to liquids

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/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变为化学产品的原料。甲烷的升温潜力几乎是二氧化碳的80倍，是一种短暂的气候力量，会在短期内对气候变化产生不成比例的影响。来自大型集中污染源(如炼油厂)的甲烷排放可通过已建立的甲烷制液(MTL)工厂进行处理。然而，缩减用于分布式甲烷源的传统MTL工厂在经济上是不可行的。开发可用于减少来自更分散来源(例如，垃圾填埋场或废弃气井)的排放的模块化系统解决了在努力减少温室气体排放方面尚未得到满足的一个重要需求。拟议的技术旨在将废甲烷在周围条件下转化为增值化学品，并可能通过减少否则会导致气候变化的排放，为客户提供经济优势和环境/社会利益。甲烷电化学转化的商业化潜力可能会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。这个i-Corps项目是基于模块化甲烷制液电解槽的开发。受吃甲烷细菌的启发，拟议的技术开发将利用添加剂制造和纳米结构材料的最新进展，创建优化的可编程反应环境，以形成和分离甲醇。拟议的技术重点是利用脉冲电势电催化(PPC)在常温常压下将甲烷转化为甲醇等附加值产品。在这个系统中，脉冲电压或脉冲光源被施加到催化剂上，该催化剂激活甲烷并将其转化为增值产品。初步结果表明，用电压或光刺激对催化剂进行脉冲处理可以控制表面反应过程。控制表面反应过程可以提高甲烷转化活性和最终有价产品的选择性。此外，还可以定制脉冲轮廓以匹配特定的流入气体成分，并控制最终附加值产品的成分。拟议的电化学转化提供了模块化反应器的使用，这些反应器可以在不同的甲烷在流条件下运行。目前的甲烷转化技术，如蒸汽甲烷重整，需要庞大的基础设施，高昂的资本成本，以及大规模的使用，然而，拟议的模块化脉冲电化学反应器有可能在更中等规模的甲烷流动中工作。这为模块化电化学反应器提供了竞争优势，因为典型的甲烷耀斑地点以小而分散的规模运行，通常不适合大规模的蒸汽甲烷重整。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 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.