Digital Circular Electrochemical Economy (DCEE)

该项目侧重于化学制造业的根本变革，以期在环境可持续性和材料循环方面实现有效的步骤变革。我们将专注于新兴的电化学领域，该领域有望强劲增长，其中有很多机会部署数字技术来支持系统设计和操作。为了响应这一号召，我们联合了来自英国三所大学（帝国理工学院，拉夫堡和赫瑞瓦特）的跨学科领先研究团队，以创建数字循环电化学经济。化工行业是一个“难以脱碳”的行业。其高嵌入碳来自两个方面：（1）密集的能源使用;（2）化石原料的使用。因此，脱碳需要用可再生能源（简化化学过程）和原料（例如，H2O、CO2）。我们预见到电能系统与工业化学系统的更紧密结合，前者提供以前在化石燃料中可用的减少的能量，并且能够处理高度氧化但丰富的原料。可再生电力供应的快速性以及灵活处理和这两个部门之间更紧密结合的经济效益将为新的数字技术带来机会。这些将能够改进新兴电化学处理技术的设计和操作，并为化学构件（例如烯烃）和燃料提供新的途径。通过提高灵活性和需求管理，这些部门的整合还为电气系统的成本节约提供了机会。我们提出了三个工作包（WP），以应对不同层面的挑战，并最终整合为一个整体解决方案：-WP 1关键电化学操作单元和工艺的数字孪生。- WP 2价值链的数字化，包括化学和电气系统之间的整合-WP 3政策，社会和金融，包括商业模式，以捕捉从工业整合中产生的价值机会

This project focuses on a radical change to chemical manufacturing with a view to effective step changes in environmental sustainability and in circularity of materials. We shall focus on the emerging electrochemical sector which is expected to grow strongly and within which there are many opportunities for the deployment of digital technologies to underpin system design and operation.In response to this call, we have united a cross-disciplinary team of leading researchers from three UK universities (Imperial College, Loughborough, and Heriot-Watt) to create a digital circular electrochemical economy. The chemical sector is a "hard to decarbonise" sector. Its high embedded carbon comes from two aspects: (1) the intensive energy use; and (2) the use of fossil feedstock. Therefore, the decarbonisation requires the substitution of both two with renewable energy (electrifying the chemical processes) and feedstock (e.g., H2O, CO2). We foresee a closer integration of the electrical energy system with the industrial chemistry system, with the former providing reducing energy formerly available in fossil fuels and which enables the processing of highly oxidised but abundant feedstocks. The intermittency of renewable electricity supply and the economic benefits of flexible processing and closer integration between these two sectors will give rise to opportunities for new digital technologies. These will enable improved design and operation of emerging electrochemical processing technologies and provide new pathways to chemical building blocks (e.g. olefins) and fuels. The integration of the sectors also provides opportunities for cost savings in the electrical system through improved flexibility and demand management.We propose three work packages (WP) to look at the challenges at different levels, and finally integrate as a whole solution:- WP1 Digital twins of key electrochemical operation units and processes.- WP2 Digitalisation of the value chain encompassing the integration between the chemical and electrical systems- WP3 Policy, Society and Finance, including business models to capture value generation opportunities from industrial integration