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.

STTR 第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将通过废二氧化碳的利用带来重大的经济活动。该项目资助的光催化反应器将带来以化学方式储存太阳能量的新方法。每年，人类活动向大气中排放 380 亿吨二氧化碳。 Dimensional Energy 设想，未来我们可以利用太阳能，利用二氧化碳作为碳氢化合物燃料和化学中间体工业生产的原料。 STTR 二期项目建议开发 HI-Light——一种光热催化反应器平台技术，能够以明显高于现有技术的速率将二氧化碳和水转化为合成气。该技术的独特之处在于它使用嵌入式光波导在反应器内均匀分布光，从而提高催化剂的效率并最终提高系统的生产率。在第一阶段，建造了一个功能齐全的集成原型反应器，展示了连续运行，并显示每小时每克催化剂产生的碳氢化合物克数比现有技术高出 10 倍以上。该方法解决了二氧化碳光转换的两个主要障碍：（1）半导体催化剂只能使用能量大于其带隙的光子，这只是太阳光中存在的光子的一小部分，（2）由于光和反应物输送不理想，这些反应器中的催化剂材料未得到充分利用。我们独特的反应器采用专利的多尺度方法来增强光和试剂直接传输到反应位点，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 的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。