Full spectrum SOLar Direct Air Capture & conversion

乙烯是化学工业的主要组成部分。因此，lDAC的目标是通过证明（TRL 4）一种新兴的突破性技术来重塑乙烯行业，该技术用于从太阳能和空气中生产技术和经济上具有竞争力，社会上可取的和气候中性（可持续）的乙烯和副产品乙醇（C2产品）。该项目的特点是光电化学转换（PEC）单元，电化学是将二氧化碳直接转化为乙烯的唯一可能途径。PEC利用来自太阳能集热器（FSS）的带宽选择光，该太阳能集热器将太阳能光谱分离用于发电和发热，其效率高于独立的PV模块和独立的太阳能集热器。热量在超低温（~60°C）下用于创新的直接空气捕获（DAC）装置，促进最终与热网络的循环集成。DAC装置从空气中去除二氧化碳，将其浓缩到95%以上，并将其压缩以输送到PEC堆和二氧化碳储存管道。这使得整个太阳能到化学品过程的碳足迹得到抵消，并能够获得碳信用额，从而有机会超越气候中和并生产负碳C2产品。该工艺在能量上自给自足，经济上可行，并且在每个单元（DAC，PEC，FSS）达到新的效率目标的条件下是碳负的。这正是该项目预期的高风险/高回报结果。该研究是平衡的，通过利用其8个合作伙伴（可再生能源技术领域的中小企业，领先的欧盟研究机构和一个网络非政府组织）的专业知识来克服技术，早期社会和市场障碍。该项目为2050年前全面部署该进程奠定了所有必要的基础，通过建立新的利益相关者生态系统的活动，使欧洲成为第一个循环，气候中立和可持续的经济体。

Ethylene is the chemical industry’s primary building block. So lDAC’s ambition is to reinvent the ethylene industry by proving (TRL4) an emerging breakthrough technology for producing technically and economically competitive, socially desirable and climate-neutral (sustainable) ethylene and co-product ethanol (C2 products) from solar energy and air. The project features a photo-electrochemical conversion (PEC) unit, being electrochemistry the only possible route for direct conversion of carbon dioxide into ethylene. The PEC exploits bandwidth-selected light from a solar collector (FSS) that splits the solar spectrum for electricity and heat generation at efficiency higher than standalone PV modules and standalone solar thermal collectors. Heat is used in an innovative direct air capture (DAC) unit at ultralow temperature (~60°C), fostering the eventual circular integration with heat networks. The DAC unit removes carbon dioxide from the air, concentrates it to 95+% and compresses it to feed the PEC stack and a pipeline for carbon dioxide storage. This allows the carbon footprint of the whole sun-to-chemicals process to be offset and enables gain in carbon credits, opening an opportunity to exceed climate-neutrality and produce carbon-negative C2 products. The process is energetically self-sufficient, economically viable and carbon-negative on the condition that each unit (DAC, PEC, FSS) reach new targets in efficiency. That is exactly the high-risk/high return outcome expected in the project. The research is balanced to overcome technical, early-stage social and market barriers by exploiting the expertise of its 8 partners (SMEs in the renewable technology field, leading EU research institutions and one networking NGO). This project performs all the necessary groundwork for the full deployment of the process before 2050 through activities that build up a new ecosystem of stakeholders, making Europe the first circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy.