STTR Phase II: HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons

STTR 第二阶段：HI-LIGHT - 将二氧化碳转化为碳氢化合物的太阳能热化学反应器技术

基本信息

批准号：
1831166
负责人：
Bradley Brennan
金额：
$ 73.46万
依托单位：
Dimensional Energy Inc.
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-09-15 至 2022-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1831166&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
STTR Phase II HI LIGHT

项目摘要

The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase II project will result in significant economic activity through the utilization of waste carbon dioxide. The photo-catalytic reactors funded in the project will lead to novel methods to chemically store energy from the sun. Each year, human activity releases 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dimensional Energy envisions a future in which we can utilize this carbon dioxide as a feedstock for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediaries by harnessing the power of the sun. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop HI-Light - a photo-thermo-catalytic reactor platform technology that enables the conversion of CO2 and water to synthesis gas at a rate significantly greater than the state of the art. The unique feature of the technology is that it uses embedded optical waveguides to evenly distribute light within the reactor, increasing the efficacy of the catalyst and ultimately the productivity of the system. In Phase I a fully functional integrated prototype reactor was constructed, demonstrating continuous operation, and showing productivity in terms of the grams of hydrocarbon produced per gram of catalyst per hour more than 10x greater than the state of the art. The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. Our unique reactor uses a patented, multi-scale approach to enhance light and reagent transport directly to the reaction site and makes use of traditionally unused photons to provide heat and enhance reaction efficiency.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.

该STTR II期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将通过利用废料二氧化碳而导致重大的经济活动。该项目资助的照片催化反应器将导致新的方法从太阳中化学储存能量。每年，人类活动都会将380亿吨二氧化碳释放到大气中。 Dimensional Energy设想了一个未来，我们可以利用这种二氧化碳作为用于生产碳氢化合物燃料和化学中介机构的原料。该STTR II期项目提议开发Hi-Light-thermo催化反应器平台技术，使二氧化碳和水以明显高于最新状态的速率转化为合成气体。该技术的独特特征是，它使用嵌入式光学波导均匀地分布在反应堆内，从而提高了催化剂的功效以及最终的系统生产率。在I期中，构建了功能齐全的集成原型反应器，证明了连续运行，并以每克每小时每小时产生的碳碳纤维克的克量超过10倍，超过10倍。 The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. 我们独特的反应堆使用专利的多尺度方法来增强光和试剂的直接运输，直接运输到反应部位，并利用传统上未使用的光子来提供热量并提高反应效率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被视为值得通过基金会的知识智能和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来获得支持。