PFI-RP: Low-Pressure Storage and Separation of Carbon Dioxide and Methane in Biogas to Enable the Use of Renewable Sources

该创新研究伙伴关系（PFI-RP）项目具有更广泛的影响和商业潜力，它是一个能够创建下一代燃料储存/输送罐的系统，使美国广大地区能够将生物废物（沼气）大规模转化为具有重要商业价值的可再生天然气。迫切需要用可再生燃料取代汽车化石燃料。在美国，一个可以立即实现的步骤是从生物垃圾中提取不同等级的可再生天然气，以及从剩余电力中提取可再生氢气。低压储存可以将这些燃料提供给全国的天然气汽车运营商，即使在没有天然气电网的情况下。该项目提供了对低压车载气体储存的基本见解，以及允许系统根据需求最佳运行的过程和协议，既可以作为燃料储存/输送系统，也可以作为气体分离器。该项目使市政当局能够使用沼气，即使他们没有管道级可再生天然气（去除二氧化碳）处理器或压缩天然气到加油站压力的能力。该项目还使社区能够销售当地生产的可再生能源。该项目旨在开发、演示并将天然气储罐推向市场，该储罐可配置为双重、按需气体储存和分离系统，用于储存和输送燃料。该储罐还将在船上从低品位的可再生天然气中分离二氧化碳，以产生高品位的可再生天然气。储气罐的设计将填补一个关键的知识空白，详细了解混合物在多孔材料中的吸附。该团队建议建立一个实验、理论和计算框架，这将导致新的设计原则，在类似于车辆预期的条件下，实现气体的最佳储存、输送和分离。广泛的多组分三维（3D）吸附等温线表面将进行实验和计算研究，以获得不同材料和吸附/解吸循环路径的性能指标。该团队还试图了解共吸附气体混合物的行为及其与吸附剂的相互作用。该项目旨在：通过研究产生3D等温线的混合物的共吸附，创建气体储存/分离系统的实验室模型，建立其解吸的动力学基准，确定气体储存和分离的最佳方案，并在原型汽车油箱上演示系统，包括多个填充/空/分离循环，评估油箱再生程序。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 Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is a system that enables the creation of next-generation fuel storage/delivery tanks that permit vast areas of the U.S. transform biowaste (biogas) into commercially-important, renewable natural gas on a larger scale. There is a pressing need to replace automotive fossil fuels with renewable fuels. One immediately realizable step in the U.S. is to tap into renewable natural gas of variable grades from biowaste as well as renewable hydrogen from surplus electricity. Low-pressure storage can deliver these fuels to natural gas vehicle operators nationwide, even when off the natural gas grid. This project provides both fundamental insights into low-pressure onboard gas storage and the processes and protocols that permit a system to optimally function on demand both as a fuel storage/delivery system and as a gas separator. The project enables municipalities to use biogas even when they do not have a pipeline-grade renewable natural gas (removal of carbon dioxide) processor or the ability to compress natural gas to fueling-station pressures. The project also enables communities to market locally produced renewable energy.The project seeks to develop, demonstrate, and bring to the marketplace a natural gas tank that can be configured as a dual, on-demand gas storage and separation system for storage and delivery of fuels. The tank will also perform on-board separation of carbon dioxide from low-grade renewable natural gas to generate high-grade renewable natural gas. The gas tank design will fill a critical knowledge gap in the detailed understanding of the adsorption of mixtures into porous materials. The team proposes to build an experimental, theoretical, and computational framework that will lead to new design principles for optimal storage, delivery, and separation of gases in conditions similar to what is expected in a vehicle. Extensive multi-component 3-dimensional (3D) adsorption isotherm surfaces will be studied experimentally and computationally to obtain performance metrics for different materials and adsorption/desorption cycle paths. The team also seeks to understand the behavior of co-adsorbing gas mixtures and their interaction with adsorbents. The project seeks to: create laboratory models of gas storage/separation systems by investigating co-adsorption of mixtures producing 3D isotherms, establish kinetic benchmarks for their desorption, identify optimal protocols for gas storage and separation, and demonstrate a system on a prototype automotive tank, including multiple fill/empty/separation cycles, assessing tank regeneration procedures.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.