STTR Phase I: Refrigerant Ionic liquid Separation

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是为制冷剂行业提供第一个商业设计，用于分离复杂的、多组分的、共沸的制冷剂混合物，以经济地回收。《美国创新与制造法》授权环境保护局（EPA）在15年内逐步减少导致全球变暖的制冷剂的生产和消费85%。据估计，其社会、经济和环境效益将创造数千个就业机会，并使美国的制造业增加数十亿美元，同时减少排放和焚烧，从而降低全球气温上升。有数百万公吨的混合制冷剂无法使用当前的分馏技术进行回收。所提出的离子液体萃取精馏技术将使这些复杂制冷剂混合物的分离和再利用成为可能。通过该项目资助的初创公司将为制冷剂行业提供一种具有国家战略利益的新型分离技术。将通过这个项目支持外联活动，特别是将妇女和代表性不足的少数民族纳入其中。这个STTR一期项目旨在证明，复杂的、多组分的、共沸的制冷剂混合物可以用离子液体分离，并且产品可以满足行业标准规范。制冷剂混合物R-404A广泛用于整个商业制冷工业（例如，杂货店），是一种复杂的三元共沸混合物，含有HFC-143a（1,1,1-三氟乙烷），具有很高的全球变暖潜势。如果能经济地分离HFC-143a， HFC-143a将成为第一批在含有氢氟烯烃的新型低全球变暖混合物中重复使用的制冷剂之一。市场上有100多种复杂的多组分制冷剂混合物。该项目将使工业所需的工艺、技术和系统设计的开发能够满足并超越阶段性目标。该计划的目标包括将R-404A分离成组件，创建过程模型，并测试从工业中回收的R-404A以了解杂质的影响。研究结果将用于开发技术经济模型和商业规模设计，该团队将建立和/或授权给制冷剂行业。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 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will be to provide the refrigerant industry with the first commercial designs for separating complex, multi-component, azeotropic refrigerant mixtures for economical recycling. The American Innovation and Manufacturing Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase down production and consumption of refrigerants causing global warming by 85 percent over 15 years. The societal, economical, and environmental benefits are estimated to create thousands of jobs and increase manufacturing by billions of dollars in the U.S. while reducing venting and incineration, and subsequently global temperature rise. There are millions of metric tons of mixed refrigerants that cannot be reclaimed using current fractional distillation technology. The proposed ionic liquid extractive distillation technology will make possible the separation and reuse of these complex refrigerant mixtures. The startup company funded through this project will provide a novel separation technology to the refrigerant industry that is of strategic national interest. Outreach activities, especially toward the inclusion of women and underrepresented minorities will be supported through this project.This STTR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate that complex, multi-component, azeotropic refrigerant mixtures can be separated using ionic liquids, and that the products can meet industry standard specifications. Refrigerant mixture R-404A, used broadly throughout the commercial refrigeration industry (e.g., grocery stores) is a complex, ternary azeotropic mixture containing HFC-143a (1,1,1-trifluoroethane), which has a high global warming potential. HFC-143a will be one of the first refrigerants to be reused in new low global warming blends containing hydrofluoroolefins if the HFC-143a can be economically separated. Over 100 complex, multicomponent refrigerant mixtures exist in the market. This project will enable the development of processes, technologies, and systems designs required for industry to meet and exceed the phase down goals. The program objectives include the separation of R-404A into components, the creation of a process model, and testing of recovered R-404A from industry to understand the effects of impurities. The results will be used to develop a technoeconomic model and commercial scale designs that the team will build and/or license to the refrigerant 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.