Development of multiphase reactor technologies for the defossilization of commodity chemicals production

开发用于大宗化学品生产去石化的多相反应器技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04315
• 负责人: Pjontek, Dominic
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746699
• 关键词: Development; multiphase; reactor; technologies; defossilization

Innovative technologies are urgently needed to address continuously growing global energy consumption. Chemical industries must adapt to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The integration of hydrocarbons in the chemical industry, largely producing carbon-rich compounds, makes complete decarbonization nearly impossible. Instead, the industry must immediately move towards defossilization, making use of renewable feedstocks (captured CO2 and sustainable hydrogen) to replace fossil-carbon feedstocks (i.e., crude oil, natural gas, and coal) to produce commodity chemicals. The proposed research program combines lab-scale experimental studies and modeling predictions for process scale-up to resolve the complex reaction networks and intricate transport phenomena required to design innovative CO2 conversion reactor technologies. Gas-liquid-solid (GLS) reactors are promising for converting sustainable feedstocks due to their reduced energy use by eliminating vaporization requirements as well as their operational flexibility with catalyst deactivation and/or the generation of immiscible liquid phases. The two objectives of the proposed research program include the development of heterogenous catalytic routes for CO2 conversion using GLS reactors, and interfacial area and flow behaviour predictions for the scale-up of CO2 conversion processes. CO2 can be converted to single carbon products (e.g., methanol) via direct hydrogen reduction. Conversion to chemicals with two or more carbons (e.g., alkanes, dimethyl ether, light olefins, higher alcohols) is also attractive based on their increased value. The first objective aims to overcome the persistent issues that hinder the adoption of industrial CO2 conversion to commodity chemicals by: (i) identifying water-tolerant catalysts, (ii) reducing catalyst costs while maintaining CO2 conversion and product selectivity; and (iii) exploring reactor configurations with in-situ water removal while considering thermodynamic limits. Gas-liquid transport phenomena also plays a critical role for these processes, where the gas-liquid mass transfer resistance is a crucial scale-up parameter. Extrapolation of lab-scale measurements to industrial-scale units with complex multicomponent liquids operating at elevated pressures and temperatures is still an unresolved challenge. The second objective will use pilot-scale experiments to measure micro-scale gas and solid flow characteristics under industrially relevant conditions. These will be combined with computational fluid dynamic simulations to advance interfacial area and flow behaviour predictions during scale-up, specifically for prospective CO2 conversion processes. Canada must significantly reduce its dependence on fossil-carbon materials in the next decade to meet its climate change goals. The proposed research program, focusing on the sustainable conversion of captured CO2, will provide the foundations required to move towards chemical industry defossilization.

迫切需要创新技术来应对不断增长的全球能源消耗。化学工业必须适应到2050年实现二氧化碳净零排放。碳氢化合物在化学工业中的整合，主要生产富碳化合物，使得完全脱碳几乎是不可能的。相反，该行业必须立即走向去化石化，利用可再生原料（捕获的二氧化碳和可持续的氢气）来取代化石碳原料（即原油、天然气和煤炭）来生产商品化学品。拟议的研究计划结合了实验室规模的实验研究和过程规模的建模预测，以解决设计创新二氧化碳转化反应器技术所需的复杂反应网络和复杂的传输现象。气-液-固（GLS）反应器有望转化可持续原料，因为它通过消除蒸发要求来减少能源消耗，并且在催化剂失活和/或产生不混相液相时具有操作灵活性。提出的研究计划的两个目标包括开发使用GLS反应器进行二氧化碳转化的多相催化路线，以及预测二氧化碳转化过程的界面面积和流动行为。二氧化碳可以通过直接氢还原转化为单碳产品（如甲醇）。转化为具有两个或两个以上碳的化学品（例如，烷烃、二甲醚、轻烯烃、高级醇）也具有吸引力，因为它们的价值增加了。第一个目标旨在克服阻碍将工业二氧化碳转化为商品化学品的长期问题，办法是：(i)查明耐水催化剂；（ii）在保持二氧化碳转化和产品选择性的同时降低催化剂成本；（iii）在考虑热力学限制的情况下，探索具有原位除水的反应堆配置。气液输运现象在这些过程中也起着至关重要的作用，其中气液传质阻力是一个关键的放大参数。将实验室规模的测量外推到工业规模的复杂多组分液体在高压和高温下运行仍然是一个未解决的挑战。第二个目标将使用中试规模的实验来测量工业相关条件下的微尺度气体和固体流动特性。这些将与计算流体动力学模拟相结合，在放大过程中推进界面面积和流动行为预测，特别是对预期的二氧化碳转化过程。为了实现其气候变化目标，加拿大必须在未来十年大幅减少对化石碳材料的依赖。拟议的研究计划侧重于捕获的二氧化碳的可持续转化，将为走向化学工业的去化石化提供所需的基础。