RII Track-2 FEC: Tri-state Research Institute of Manufacturing for Managing CO2 (TRIMMing CO2)

在过去的一个世纪里，我们文明的技术进步是由富含碳的化石燃料转化为电力、热能、聚合物、化肥和其他碳基产品推动的，这些产品是现代社会的基础。现在很明显，为了避免灾难性的气候变化，我们必须大幅和迅速地减少全球二氧化碳排放，并在本世纪中叶之前从地球大气和海洋中额外消除数十亿吨二氧化碳。三州制造管理二氧化碳研究院(Trii-State Research Institute for Management CO2)项目的使命是应对碳捕获和利用的挑战。该团队将开发创新的制造工艺和基本理解，以促进碳捕获和利用。这项工作得到了路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校、新墨西哥州立大学、新墨西哥大学和西弗吉尼亚大学以及国家能源技术实验室和爱达荷州国家实验室研究人员的密切合作、良好整合和高度跨学科的网络的支持。这个削减二氧化碳的项目将为学生、博士后和教职员工提供跨司法管辖区的协同活动，包括交换学生和教师，在国家实验室和行业实习，并在扩大研究参与的同时为学生提供共同建议，重点是让目前在科学领域代表性不足的群体参与进来。TRIMING CO2团队的专业知识涵盖电化学、材料设计和表征、制造、理论化学、光谱学、多尺度建模和机器学习等领域。计划中的研究活动需要开发三项尖端技术：(I)在生产电力的同时捕获二氧化碳，(Ii)在储存电能的同时利用二氧化碳，以及(Iii)将二氧化碳转化为高价值的化学品。第一个技术推力涉及熔融碳酸盐燃料电池(MCFC)技术的开发，该技术在发电的同时浓缩二氧化碳。我们的研究重点是使用三维电极来提高MCFC的性能和稳定性。第二个推动力是开发一种独特的利用二氧化碳的能量存储系统。第三个重点是将二氧化碳转化为高价值的化学品，例如C2H4和乙醇。第四个重点将通过一个“MAP”程序评估零部件和化学制造的质量和经济性：(I)制造和化学过程的建模，(Ii)用于显微结构图像分析的人工智能，以及(Iii)过程集成和技术经济分析。MAP计划将提供与咨询委员会中的行业合作伙伴合作扩大流程的机会。这四个项目紧密结合了来自四所大学和两个国家实验室的技术专业知识。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

During the past century, our civilization’s technological advances have been driven by the conversion of carbon-rich fossil fuels into electricity, heat, polymers, fertilizers, and other carbon-based products that are the foundation of modern society. It is now clear that, to avoid catastrophic climate change, we must dramatically and rapidly reduce global emissions of CO2, and additionally remove billions of tons of CO2 from the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by mid-century. The mission of the Tri-state Research Institute of Manufacturing for Managing CO2 (TRIMMing CO2) project is to address the challenge of carbon capture and utilization. The team will develop innovative manufacturing processes and fundamental understanding to advance carbon capture and utilization. The work is enabled by a closely collaborative, well integrated, and highly interdisciplinary network of researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico and West Virginia University, as well as the National Energy Technology Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory. This TRIMMing CO2 project will provide inter-jurisdictional synergistic activities for students, postdocs, and faculty, including exchange of students and faculty, internship at the national labs and industry, and co-advising students while broadening participation in research, with a focus on the engagement of groups currently underrepresented in science. The expertise of the TRIMMing CO2 team spans the areas of electrochemistry, materials design and characterization, manufacturing, theoretical chemistry, spectroscopy, multi-scale modeling, and machine learning. The planned research activity entails the development of three cutting-edge technologies that will: (i) capture CO2 while producing electricity, (ii) utilize CO2 while storing electric energy, and (iii) convert CO2 to high-value chemicals. The first technical thrust involves the development of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) technology which concentrates CO¬2 while producing electricity. Our research focuses on the use of 3-dimensional electrodes which can improve MCFC performance and stability. The second thrust is the development of a unique energy storage system that utilizes CO2. The third thrust focuses on the conversion of CO2 to high-value chemicals, for instance C2H4 and ethanol. The fourth thrust will assess the quality and economics of component and chemical manufacturing through a “MAP” program: (i) Modeling of manufacturing and chemical processes, (ii) Artificial intelligence for microstructural image analysis, and (iii) Process integration and techno-economic analysis. The MAP program will provide opportunities for teaming with industry partners on the advisory board for process scale-up. These four thrusts closely integrate technical expertise from four universities and two national labs.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.