I-Corps: High productivity micro-reactors for large scale hydrocarbon and CO2 processing

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是发展一种高效率、成本效益高的系统，将二氧化碳直接转化为有用的化学品，同时尽量减少废物和排放。潜在的影响包括，但不限于，以新的成本效益利用大气中大量的二氧化碳和从点源排放，如发电厂，用于生产增值化学品。这项技术的核心是一个“微反应器”，与传统反应器相比，它可以强化工艺，从而提高生产率。微反应器提供更高的生产率、安全性和稳健性。拟议的装置可以作为一个易于部署的独立装置开发，也可以改造现有的装置。此外，该项目将通过加速对市场变化的响应，简化规模扩大，实现新产品的快速开发和部署，简化现场气体处理和加工，减少管道运输到中心设施所固有的环境影响和安全风险，为化学加工行业带来重大利益。I-Corps项目的基础是设计和建造一个独立的高度强化装置，以利用微反应器的高生产率来开发小型气转液（GTL）工厂，将二氧化碳转化为增值化学品。含有微通道的微反应器是化工过程强化的理想选择，因为它(1)增强了传热和传质过程；(2)可以精确调节初始和边界条件，以及连续化学反应的停留或接触时间；(3)表示工厂运行的本质安全。单位物理尺寸的减小（小型化）导致混合和热交换增强，从而提高单位体积的表面积以及随后的质量和传热率。拟议的系统将是一个由催化微反应器单元组成的高度强化的独立装置。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 impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to develop a highly efficient, cost-effective system for direct conversion of CO2 to useful chemicals, while minimizing waste and emissions. The potential impacts include, but are not limited to, new cost-effective utilization of the abundant CO2 both within the atmosphere and from point source emissions, such as power plants, for the production of value-added chemicals. The heart of this technology is a 'microreactor' that allows process intensification and thus increased productivity compared to a conventional reactor. Microreactors offer enhanced productivity, safety, and robustness. The proposed unit can be developed as an easily deployable, standalone unit or to retrofit existing plants. Moreover, this project will deliver major benefits to the chemical process industries by accelerating response to market changes, simplifying scale-up, enabling rapid development and deployment of new products, simplifying on-site gas treatment and processing, and reducing the environmental impact and safety risks inherent to pipeline transportation to a central facility.This I-Corps project is based on designing and building a standalone highly intensified unit to leverage the high productivity of microreactors in developing small scale Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) plants converting CO2 into value-added chemicals. A microreactor containing microchannels is ideal for process intensification in chemical engineering as it (1) enhances the heat and mass transfer processes; (2) allows precise adjustment of the initial and boundary conditions, as well as the residence or contact time for continuous chemical reactions; and (3) represents inherently safe plant operation. The decrease in the physical dimensions (miniaturization) of a unit leads to enhanced mixing and heat exchange, thereby improving the surface area per unit volume and subsequent mass and heat transfer rates. The proposed system will be a highly intensified standalone plant consisting of catalytic microreactor units.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.