Commercialization of a Green Process by Renewable Electricity for Hydrogen and Syngas Productions

全球每年向大气排放的温室气体超过510亿吨。到2050年发展二氧化碳净零排放经济，到2030年发展具有成本竞争力的制氢工艺是加拿大的两项重要使命。二氧化碳和甲烷是温室气体排放的主要成分。在这个研究项目中，我们的目标是将氢气和合成气（即一氧化碳和氢气的混合物）的可持续工艺商业化。除了氢作为清洁能源载体的重要作用外，合成气还是许多有价值的化学品的基石，例如甲醇。合成气和氢气的可持续生产将有助于加拿大向上述任务迈进。在甲烷催化干重整中，二氧化碳和甲烷反应生成合成气。采用变压吸附和膜分离等成熟的技术从合成气中分离氢气。为了提供甲烷催化干燥重整所需的热量，可以采用微波加热，这可以与可再生能源发电相结合。在传统的规模扩大方法中，人们通过依次从实验室到试点、示范和商业规模来解决技术和经济商业化的挑战。通过采用蒙特利尔理工大学过程工程高级研究实验室开发的一种新颖的迭代放大方法，该研究项目将通过实验室和中试规模调查，以及建模/模拟活动，解决这种绿色技术商业化的所有技术和经济挑战。该项目的关键成果在商业规模上的成功实施将有助于加拿大促进经济发展，实现其净碳排放和氢经济目标。

More than 51 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases are globally emitted to the atmosphere per year. Developing a net zero carbon dioxide emission economy by 2050 and cost-competitive hydrogen production processes by 2030 are two crucial missions of Canada. Carbon dioxide and methane are primary elements of greenhouse gas emissions. In this research project, we aim at commercialization of a sustainable process for hydrogen and syngas, i.e., a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, productions. In addition to substantial role of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier, syngas is the building block of many valuable chemicals, e.g., methanol. Sustainable production of syngas and hydrogen will help Canada in advancing toward the mentioned missions. In catalytic dry reforming of methane, carbon dioxide and methane react to produce syngas. Well established technologies, such as pressure swing adsorption and membrane separation, are adopted to separate hydrogen from syngas. To supply the required heat for the catalytic dry reforming of methane, one could employ microwave heating, which could be coupled to renewable sources of electricity production. In a conventional scale-up approach, one addresses technical and economical commercialization challenges of a technology by moving sequentially from laboratory to pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale. By employing a novel iterative scale-up approach developed at Process Engineering Advanced Research Lab of Polytechnique Montreal, this research project will address all technical and economic challenges of commercialization of this green technology by laboratory and pilot scale investigations, as well as modeling/simulation activities. Successful implementation of the project's key results at commercial scale will help Canada boost its economy and achieve its net carbon emission and hydrogen economy goals.