I-Corps: CO2 hydrate production for large-scale CO2 sequestration

I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发将二氧化碳作为二氧化碳水合物隔离的技术。二氧化碳水合物是冰状固体，由二氧化碳和水组成。稳定的CO2水合物在~0℃和中等压力（~450 psi）下由CO2和水的混合物形成。二氧化碳水合物可以通过多种方式安全地长期封存（海底、永久冻土、枯竭的天然气田）。I-Corps项目的目标是最终实现基于二氧化碳水合物的碳捕获与封存（CCS）技术的商业化。在过程工业、油气工业和公用事业中存在许多商业化合作伙伴。一个可能的项目后场景包括建立一家初创公司作为商业化载体（开发特定行业的CCS解决方案）。成功的商业化可能会带来大量的就业机会，并有助于将美国定位为该领域的领导者。最重要的是，它将扩大应对气候变化的技术和地球工程解决方案的组合。该项目还将促进天然气水合物的其他应用，包括海水淡化、气体分离和氢气储存。这个I-Corps项目是基于技术的发展，从二氧化碳和水的混合物中快速形成二氧化碳水合物。人工合成水合物的关键技术挑战是增长速度非常缓慢，天然气到水合物的转化率很低。加速水合物形成的最先进技术包括使用化学促进剂，这是昂贵的和环保的。德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的研究小组已经取得了几项科学发现，并开发了多种加速水合物生长的新方法，这可能会以比最先进的技术快一个数量级的速度加速水合物的形成。该技术的具体新进展包括最近发现的水合物成核促进剂，一种增强气液界面面积和对流的技术，以及使用高导热材料加速传热。累积起来，这些进步可以在不使用化学促进剂的情况下实现快速、按需的二氧化碳水合物生产。本项目的智力优势在于集成了多种基础进展，以实现化学加工工业常用的反应器配置中的快速水合物生成。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 the development of technology to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) as CO2 hydrates. CO2 hydrates are ice-like solids, consisting of CO2 and water. Stable CO2 hydrates form at ~0 ̊C, and at moderate pressures (~450 psi) from a mixture of CO2 and water. CO2 hydrates can be safely sequestered long-term via multiple options (under seabed, under permafrost, depleted gas fields). This I-Corps project targets eventual commercialization of CO2 hydrates-based carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Many commercialization partners exist among process industries, oil-gas industry, and utilities. A likely post-project scenario involves establishing a startup company as the commercialization vehicle (which develops sector-specific CCS solutions). Successful commercialization may lead to significant employment opportunities, and contribute to positioning the US as a leader in this field. Most importantly, it will augment the portfolio of technological and geoengineering solutions to tackle climate change. This project also will stimulate other applications of gas hydrates including desalination, gas separation and hydrogen storage.This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to rapidly form CO2 hydrates from a mixture of CO2 and water. Key technological challenges underlying artificial synthesis of hydrates have been very slow growth rates, and low conversion rates of gas to hydrates. State of the art technology to speed up hydrate formation includes the use of chemical promoters, which are expensive and environmentally friendly. The team at UT Austin has made several scientific discoveries and developed multiple novel approaches to speed up growth of hydrates, which may cumulatively speed up hydrate formation by an order of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art. Specific novel advancements integrated in the proposed technology include recently discovered hydrate nucleation promoters, a technique to enhance gas-liquid interfacial area and convection, and the use of high thermal conductivity materials to speed up heat transfer. Cumulatively, these advancements may enable rapid, on-demand CO2 hydrate production without the use of chemical promoters. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the integration of multiple fundamental advancements to realize rapid hydrate formation in reactor configurations commonly used by the chemicals processing industry.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.