SBIR Phase II: Utilizing Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as a Feedstock to Produce Commodity Chemicals

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是减少大型商品化学品对苯二甲酸生产过程中的二氧化碳(CO2)排放。这项技术的发展将为二氧化碳在日常产品中的直接利用提供一条途径。例如，如果大规模实施，拟议的流程每年有可能隔离约2000万吨二氧化碳，相当于430万辆汽车的排放量。该项目还具有巨大的商业潜力。通过以比当前技术更低的成本提供低碳产品，拟议中的创新有可能成为制造这种商品化学品的事实上的标准。一家工厂每年的许可和辅助收入估计为3000万美元，市场占有率为70%-80%，这是占主导地位的典型工艺，年收入可能增长到15亿美元以上。该项目的成功还将为推动类似努力提供科学和创业蓝图，从而推动二氧化碳利用技术的最先进水平。SBIR第二阶段项目建议开发一种光驱动化学技术，使二氧化碳能够作为大规模化学生产对苯二甲酸的原料。该项目通过将从工业烟囱或直接空气捕集器等点源捕获的二氧化碳转化为有用的化学和消费品来减少二氧化碳排放。二氧化碳是一种稳定的化合物，通常不具活性，因此与传统的热驱动工艺不相容。拟议的项目将有助于成熟光催化活化二氧化碳的技术，该技术已被证明在诱导二氧化碳反应性方面是有效的。第一步是论证使用二氧化碳在实验室规模生产目标化学品的可行性。下一步，将使用高通量实验技术优化反应性能。最后，该过程将在光流光反应器中放大。在该项目的这一部分，将解决工程放大问题，作为实现生产工厂的先导。该奖项反映了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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is abating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the production of terephthalic acid, a large-scale commodity chemical. Development of this technology will provide a pathway for direct utilization of CO2 in everyday products. For example, implemented at scale, the proposed process has potential to sequester about 20 million metric tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to the emissions from 4.3 million cars. This project also has significant commercial potential. By delivering a lower-carbon product at lower cost than the current technology, the proposed innovation has the potential to become the de facto standard for manufacturing this commodity chemical. Annual licensing and ancillary revenue from a single plant is estimated at $30 million, and at 70-80% market share, typical for the dominant process, annual revenue could grow to over $1.5 billion. The success of this project will also provide a scientific and entrepreneurial blueprint to spur similar efforts thus advancing the state of the art of CO2 utilization technologies.This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop a light-driven chemical technology that enables the use of CO2 as a raw material in large scale chemical production of terephthalic acid. This project abates CO2 emissions by converting CO2, captured from point sources such as industrial flue stacks or direct air capture, to useful chemical and consumer products. Carbon dioxide is a stable compound and is typically unreactive and therefore incompatible with traditional heat-driven processes. The proposed project will help mature the technology of CO2 activation by photocatalysis, which has been shown to be effective in inducing CO2 reactivity. The first step is to demonstrate the feasibility of using CO2 to produce the target chemical at bench scale. Next, the reaction performance will be optimized using high-throughput experimentation techniques. Finally, the process will be scaled up in a photo flow photoreactor. In this part of the project, engineering scale up issues will be addressed as a precursor to realizing a production plant.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.