SBIR Phase I: CAS: A light-based, energy-generating, carbon removal process

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响包括减少大气中的温室气体数量，并将其永久隔离或重新使用以制造可持续的化学品。政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）是世界上最权威的气候科学家和政策制定者机构，它宣布，到2050年，每年必须从大气中清除数十亿吨二氧化碳，以防止全球气温比工业化前水平高出1.5°C，避免气候变化的最严重影响。如果成功，这项研究将为十亿吨级的碳去除提供一条途径。该过程的低能耗要求可以允许在远离大型能源基础设施的地方进行部署，为受天气相关事件影响最严重的社区带来新的除碳行业的好处和就业机会。该项目将使一种全新的除碳方法商业化。如果海水保持接近中性的pH值，那么海水中大量的二氧化碳会保持溶解状态，但当酸化时会自发地放气。该过程使用光引发的可逆光酸作为低能量手段暂时酸化海水并排出二氧化碳，然后可以储存或用于工业。专利的光酸在过程的核心改变其结构构象时，暴露于可见光和释放质子。光照后酸度的增加为碳捕获提供了质子驱动力。未被光酸吸收的阳光可用于嵌入式多晶硅太阳能电池发电。该系统的两个方面需要改进，以便大规模部署该进程。需要提高光酸对降解的抗性，或者需要证明一种简单且可扩展的方法来回收降解的光酸。此外，在最初的实验室原型中使用的离子交换膜是昂贵的，需要用更便宜和更高通量的膜来代替。如果成功的话，这些发展将导致一个可扩展的和负担得起的碳去除过程。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project includes reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and sequestering them permanently or reusing them to make sustainable chemicals. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s most authoritative body of climate scientists and policymakers, has declared that billions of tons of carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere annually by 2050 to prevent global temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. If successful, this research would provide a path to gigaton-scale carbon removal. The low energy requirements of the process could allow for deployment in locations distant from large energy infrastructure to bring the benefits and jobs of a new carbon removal industry to communities most affected by weather related events.This project will commercialize a fundamentally new approach to carbon removal. The vast amount of carbon dioxide locked in seawater remains dissolved if it stays near neutral pH, but outgases spontaneously when acidified. This process uses a light-triggered reversible photoacid as a low-energy means to temporarily acidify seawater and drive out carbon dioxide, which can then be stored or used in industry. The proprietary photoacid at the heart of the process changes its structural conformation when exposed to visible light and releases a proton. The resulting increase in acidity upon illumination provides the proton driving force for carbon capture. Sunlight not absorbed by the photoacid can be used to generate electricity with embedded polysilicon solar cells. Two aspects of the system need to be improved for the process to be deployed at scale. The photoacid’s resistance to degradation needs to be increased or a simple and scalable process to recover the degraded photoacid needs to be demonstrated. In addition, the ion exchange membranes used in the initial lab prototype are expensive and need to be replaced with cheaper and higher flux membranes. If successful, these developments would lead to a scalable and affordable carbon removal process.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.