Renewable synthetic fuels by thermocatalytic conversion of methane and carbon dioxide

世界能源市场主要依赖化石燃料燃烧，这是一种低效率的过程，会导致大量二氧化碳排放。严重依赖化石燃料会造成经济、环境和地缘政治后果，而可再生能源无法提供足够的能源供应来满足日益增长的需求。需要更有效地利用化石燃料，最好是通过纳入可再生能源和废物流。拟议的研究计划旨在开发可持续的路线，从甲烷(CH4)和二氧化碳(CO2)生产合成可再生燃料，甲烷和二氧化碳是丰富但非常稳定的化合物，其转化受到动力学和热力学的限制。为了应对这些挑战，将通过整合催化剂开发、反应器设计和系统优化的多尺度方法来设计新的热催化转化路线。 其目标是结合二氧化碳捕获(从沼气、烟道气等)。通过热催化转化利用可再生能源。该方法依赖于多相催化和高度集成的反应器的使用。一种方法是通过反向水气变换反应或甲烷化反应将二氧化碳加氢，利用太阳能和风能驱动的电解产生的氢气来生产可再生合成气或可再生天然气。另一种方法是CH4干法重整，利用二氧化碳作为氧化剂，而聚光太阳能可以用作热源。这些过程中的每一个都消耗或释放大量的热量，热量的去除和供应以及催化剂的活性和稳定性都是主要的障碍。重点将放在新兴催化材料(例如过渡金属碳化物和合金)和纳米结构(例如核壳纳米粒子、纳米棒等)的应用上。开发高活性、稳定、低成本的催化剂。另一个重点将是反应堆热管理，包括先进的反应堆设计(例如熔盐冷却)和使用低成本的集中式太阳能(抛物线槽)。优化将依赖于建模和数值模拟。 二氧化碳化学固定的进展对反应工程领域非常重要，对于加拿大和其他国家寻求减少对化石燃料的依赖具有重要的实际意义。通过甲烷化生产可再生天然气可以作为电力转换天然气技术的基础，从而实现可再生能源储存和电网负载平衡(电网不太适合风能和太阳能等瞬变能源)。将二氧化碳排放的废气转化为合成气，将建立一个从废物到燃料的链，以(从合成气)生产甲醇或石蜡。拟议的研究计划的一个重要部分是HQP培训，通过导师指导、接触研究环境和环境教育相结合。

The world's energy market mainly relies on fossil fuel combustion, a low efficiency process that leads to large CO2 emissions. Heavy dependence on fossil fuels has economic, environmental, and geopolitical consequences, while renewables cannot provide sufficient energy supply to meet growing demands. More efficient utilization of fossil fuels is required, preferably via the incorporation of renewable energy and waste streams. The proposed research program is aimed at developing sustainable routes for the production of synthetic renewable fuels from methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), abundant but very stable compounds, whose conversion is limited kinetically and thermodynamically. To address these challenges, novel routes of thermocatalytic conversion will be designed via a multi-scale approach based on integration of catalyst development, reactor design, and system optimization. The objective is to combine CO2 capture (from biogas, flue gas etc.) with the use of renewable energy via thermocatalytic conversion. The methodology relies on the use of heterogeneous catalysis and highly-integrated reactors. One approach is CO2 hydrogenation via reverse water gas shift reaction or methanation using H2 generated by electrolysis driven by solar and wind electricity, to produce renewable syngas or renewable natural gas. Another approach is CH4 dry reforming, in which CO2 is utilized as an oxidant, while concentrated solar power can be used as a source of heat. Each of these processes either consumes or releases large amounts of heat, and heat removal and supply are among major obstacles, as well as catalyst activity and stability. The emphasis will be on the application of emerging catalytic materials (e.g. transition metal carbides and alloys) and nano-structuring (e.g. core-shell nanoparticles, nanorods etc.) to develop highly active and stable, low-cost catalysts. Another focus will be on reactor thermal management, including advanced reactor designs (e.g. molten salt-cooled) and the use of low-cost concentrated solar energy (parabolic troughs). Optimization will rely on modeling and numerical simulations. Advances in chemical fixation of CO2 are very important to the field of Reaction Engineering and will have important practical implications for Canada and other countries seeking ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The production of renewable natural gas via methanation could be a basis for power-to-gas technology, allowing renewable energy storage and electrical grid load balancing (the grid is not well-suited to transient sources such as wind and solar). The conversion of CO2-reach waste streams into syngas will establish a waste-to-fuel chain to produce methanol or paraffins (from syngas). An important part of the proposed research program is HQP training, through a combination of mentorship, exposure to the research environment, and environmental education.