Digital Circular Electrochemical Economy (DCEE)

该项目的重点是从根本上改变化学制造，以期在环境可持续性和材料循环性方面进行有效的步骤改变。我们将专注于新兴的电化学行业，该行业预计将强劲增长，其中有许多机会部署数字技术来支撑系统设计和运营。为响应这一号召，我们联合了来自三所英国大学(帝国理工学院、拉夫堡大学和赫里奥特-瓦特大学)的领先研究人员组成的跨学科团队，以创建数字循环电化学经济。化工行业是一个“难以脱碳”的行业。它的高嵌入碳来自两个方面：(1)能源的集约使用；(2)化石原料的使用。因此，脱碳需要用可再生能源(使化学过程通电)和原料(如水、二氧化碳)来取代这两种能源。我们预计，电力系统将与工业化学系统更紧密地结合在一起，前者提供以前在化石燃料中可用的减少能源，并使加工高度氧化但丰富的原料成为可能。可再生电力供应的间歇性，以及灵活处理和这两个部门之间更紧密的结合所带来的经济利益，将为新的数字技术创造机会。这将改进新兴的电化学处理技术的设计和操作，并为化学构建块(如烯烃)和燃料提供新的途径。各部门的整合也提供了通过提高灵活性和需求管理来节省电力系统成本的机会。我们提出了三个工作包(WP)，以审视不同层面的挑战，并最终整合为一个整体解决方案：-WP1关键电化学操作单元和流程的数字孪生兄弟。-WP2价值链的数字化，包括化学和电力系统之间的整合-WP3政策、社会和金融，包括商业模式，以捕捉工业整合带来的价值创造机会。

This project focuses on a radical change to chemical manufacturing with a view to effective step changes in environmental sustainability and in circularity of materials. We shall focus on the emerging electrochemical sector which is expected to grow strongly and within which there are many opportunities for the deployment of digital technologies to underpin system design and operation.In response to this call, we have united a cross-disciplinary team of leading researchers from three UK universities (Imperial College, Loughborough, and Heriot-Watt) to create a digital circular electrochemical economy. The chemical sector is a "hard to decarbonise" sector. Its high embedded carbon comes from two aspects: (1) the intensive energy use; and (2) the use of fossil feedstock. Therefore, the decarbonisation requires the substitution of both two with renewable energy (electrifying the chemical processes) and feedstock (e.g., H2O, CO2). We foresee a closer integration of the electrical energy system with the industrial chemistry system, with the former providing reducing energy formerly available in fossil fuels and which enables the processing of highly oxidised but abundant feedstocks. The intermittency of renewable electricity supply and the economic benefits of flexible processing and closer integration between these two sectors will give rise to opportunities for new digital technologies. These will enable improved design and operation of emerging electrochemical processing technologies and provide new pathways to chemical building blocks (e.g. olefins) and fuels. The integration of the sectors also provides opportunities for cost savings in the electrical system through improved flexibility and demand management.We propose three work packages (WP) to look at the challenges at different levels, and finally integrate as a whole solution:- WP1 Digital twins of key electrochemical operation units and processes.- WP2 Digitalisation of the value chain encompassing the integration between the chemical and electrical systems- WP3 Policy, Society and Finance, including business models to capture value generation opportunities from industrial integration