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

这项小企业创新研究（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，并将其永久隔离或再利用以制造可持续化学品。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，该机构宣布，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以上，避免气候变化带来的最严重影响。如果成功，这项研究将为千兆吨规模的碳去除提供一条途径。该过程的低能源需求允许在远离大型能源基础设施的地方部署，从而为受天气相关事件影响最严重的社区带来新的碳去除行业的好处和就业机会。这个项目将使一种全新的碳去除方法商业化。如果海水的pH值接近中性，锁在海水中的大量二氧化碳仍会溶解，但酸化后会自发地排出气体。这个过程使用光触发的可逆光酸作为一种低能耗的手段，暂时酸化海水并排出二氧化碳，然后将其储存或用于工业。该工艺核心的专有光酸在暴露于可见光下时改变其结构构象并释放质子。光照后酸度的增加为碳捕获提供了质子驱动力。不被光酸吸收的太阳光可以用嵌入多晶硅太阳能电池来发电。为了大规模部署流程，需要改进系统的两个方面。需要提高光酸的抗降解能力，或者证明一种简单、可扩展的方法来回收降解的光酸。此外，最初实验室原型中使用的离子交换膜价格昂贵，需要用更便宜、通量更高的膜代替。如果成功，这些发展将导致可扩展和负担得起的碳去除过程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.