EFRI DCheM: Distributed solar energy harvesting for carbon-free ammonia synthesis

EFRI DCheM：用于无碳氨合成的分布式太阳能收集

• 批准号: 2131709
• 负责人: Johannes Schwank
• 金额: $ 200万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2131709&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EFRI; DCheM; Distributed; solar; energy

This EFRI Distributed Chemical Manufacturing project seeks to provide the scientific and technical foundations for producing fertilizer close to the farm and for the avoidance of the significant greenhouse gas footprint of the current industrial standard ammonia synthesis process. Small-scale distributed fertilizer manufacturing is vital for rural areas of the U.S. and for many other regions of the world where access to fertilizer is limited. The solar energy-driven and carbon-free strategy of distributed, small-scale ammonia production provide a platform for new business models for agricultural communities. Distributed fertilizer manufacturing close to the farm offers two intertwined pathways for significant global impact: one toward decreasing the carbon emissions during production and transportation of fertilizer, and another toward engaging agricultural and industrial stakeholders and exploring the best methods and appropriate scales for providing cost-effective access to fertilizer in rural communities here in the U.S. as well as in low-income countries suffering from food insecurity. The project’s aims are not to replace the existing industrial ammonia synthesis infrastructure. Instead, the goal is to cover part of the future increased demand for fertilizer by enabling a sustainable distributed fertilizer manufacturing process for select rural locations such as farms operated by NativeAmerican Indian tribes on a scale where it makes logistical and economic sense.Th fundamental research project pioneers the concept of photo-enhanced thermal catalysis, conducting photocatalytic reactions not in a liquid phase batch reactor at ambient temperature and pressure, as is the general practice, but in a continuous flow gas-solid reactor at moderate temperatures and relatively low pressures. As such, this work will lay the foundation for a fundamental understanding of the underlying physics and surface chemistry that leads to photo-enhanced ammonia formation rates. Besides developing novel catalytic materials and catalyst architectures optimized for light interaction, the project also brings significant innovation to reactor design by distributing light uniformly within catalyst plates in a new type of photocatalytic reactor. Renewable energy-powered electrolysis of water provides the required process hydrogen and nitrogen is separated from the air and further converted into fertilizer, such as aqueous ammonia, carbamate, or urea. The solar-spectrum-enhanced thermal catalysis research results, combined with the project’s community and curricular engagement approach, will advance scholarship on three fronts: (1) fundamental understanding of the physics of photo-enhanced nitrogen activation on catalytic surfaces; (2) design and modeling of an integrated system for renewable-hydrogen-based distributed ammonia synthesis and fertilizer production; and (3) prototyping, piloting and assessment of training modules to convey the innovations to stakeholders and move towards implementation.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 EFRI 分布式化学品制造项目旨在为在农场附近生产肥料提供科学和技术基础，并避免当前工业标准氨合成工艺产生大量温室气体足迹，小规模分布式肥料制造对于农村至关重要。太阳能驱动的分布式小规模氨生产的无碳战略为农业社区的新商业模式提供了平台。制造关闭农场的建设提供了两条相互交织的途径，以产生重大的全球影响：一是减少化肥生产和运输过程中的碳排放，二是吸引农业和工业利益相关者参与，探索最佳方法和适当规模，以提供具有成本效益的化肥获取途径。该项目的目标不是取代现有的工业氨合成基础设施，而是通过支持来满足未来增加的化肥需求。可持续的分布式肥料制造工艺该基础研究项目开创了光增强热催化的概念，在环境温度下不在液相间歇反应器中进行光催化反应和压力，这是通常的做法，但在中等温度和相对较低压力的连续流动气-固反应器中进行。因此，这项工作将为对导致光的基础物理和表面化学的基本理解奠定基础。 - 增强型除了开发针对光相互作用进行优化的新型催化材料和催化剂结构外，该项目还通过在新型光催化反应器中的催化剂板内均匀分布光来为反应器设计带来重大创新。所需过程将氢气和氮气从空气中分离出来，并进一步转化为肥料，如氨水、氨基甲酸盐或尿素，结合太阳光谱增强热催化研究成果。通过该项目的社区和课程参与方法，将促进三个方面的学术发展：(1) 对催化表面光增强氮活化物理学的基本了解；(2) 基于可再生氢的集成系统的设计和建模分布式氨合成和化肥生产；(3) 培训模块的原型设计、试点和评估，以向利益相关者传达创新并推动实施。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持。基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。