CO2 conversion to useful carbon products in molten carbon electrolysis cells

全球能源需求的增长导致人为二氧化碳排放量不断增加。因此，需要新的方法来永久隔离二氧化碳，并开发有前景的技术来捕获二氧化碳并将其转化为增值产品。碳升级技术公司(CUT)和zEroCor TuBulars Inc(ZEroCor)正在与卡尔加里大学的BIRSS集团合作开发一种高温电解槽，用于将二氧化碳转化为固体碳和氧气气体。由于这样的过程与碳中性电源(风能、太阳能等)捆绑在一起，二氧化碳被永久隔离，并同时产生两种增值产品--氧气和碳。纯氧在许多化工过程中都受到重视，而碳作为增强塑料和混凝土的添加剂、电池和燃料电池的电极材料、过滤材料、空气和水污染物的吸附剂等的需求越来越大。高温电解是利用电能将二氧化碳直接转化为碳的更有效的方法之一，但对材料的长期稳定性有很高的要求，特别是在熔盐电解液的腐蚀环境中。该项目的目标是提高熔融碳酸盐电解槽(MCEC)的性能和稳定性，以便公司合作伙伴能够评估生产附加值碳的可行性和成本效益。基于反向熔融碳酸盐燃料电池技术，将对实验室规模的MCECs进行测试、修改和优化，以生产商业上所需的碳粉，如石墨烯纳米片和相关纳米颗粒。碳产品的结构将被确定，公司合作伙伴的产品测试将用于定制碳沉积条件，以产生适销对路的材料。

Growth in world-wide energy demand is resulting in ever increasing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. As a consequence, new approaches are needed to both permanently sequester CO2 and develop promising technologies to capture and transform CO2 into value-added products. Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CUT) and zEroCor Tubulars Inc (zEroCor), in partnership with the Birss Group at the University of Calgary, are teaming up to develop a high temperature electrolysis cell used to convert CO2 to solid carbon and oxygen gas. With such a process tied to carbon neutral electricity sources (wind, solar, etc.), CO2 is permanently sequestered, and two value-added products, oxygen and carbon, are both produced. Purified oxygen is valued for many chemical processes, while carbon is increasingly in demand as an additive for strengthening plastics and concrete, as electrode materials for batteries and fuel cells, as filter materials, an adsorbent for air and water pollutants, and more.High temperature electrolysis is one of the more efficient methods of using electrical energy to directly convert CO2 to carbon, but there are high demands on the materials in terms of long term stability, especially in the corrosive environment of molten salt electrolytes. The goal of this project is to improve the performance and stability of the molten carbonate electrolysis cells (MCEC) so that the company partners can assess the feasibility and cost effectiveness of the producing value-added carbons. Based on reverse molten carbonate fuel cell technology, bench-scale MCECs will be tested, modified and optimized to produce commercially desirable carbon powders, such as graphene nanoplatelets and related nanoparticles. The structure of the carbon products will be determined and product testing by the company partners will be used to tailor the carbon deposition conditions to generate a marketable material.