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分布式化学制造项目旨在为在农场附近生产肥料的科学和技术基础，并避免避免当前工业标准氨合成过程的重要温室气体足迹。小规模的分布肥料制造对于美国的粗糙地区以及世界许多其他地区的肥料有限的地区至关重要。太阳能驱动和无碳策略分配了靠近农场的肥料制造，提供了两种相互交织的途径，以减少全球影响：一种旨在减少肥料生产和运输期间的碳排放量，而另一种则旨在吸引农业和工业利益相关者，并探索与肥料相同的最佳范围，以使其具有成本范围，以使其具有成本范围，从而及时获得肥料的成本范围，从而使其富含肥料的社区，而肥料则是肥料的范围。不安全感。该项目的目的不是取代现有的工业氨合成基础设施。取而代之的是，目的是通过启用可持续的分布式肥料制造过程来覆盖未来对肥料的需求，以适应精选的位置，例如Nativeamerican Indian Tribers经营的农场，以使其具有后勤和经济意义，从而使基本研究项目的概念概念呈液体疗程，从而使液体抗压动物抗压动作，无效的效果，无效的效果，并在效果上进行液体抗压剂，并在效果上进行了抗压剂，该效应是在效应的概念练习，但在现代温度和相对低压下连续流动气体反应器中。因此，这项工作将为对基础物理和表面化学的基本了解奠定基础，从而导致光增强氨的形成率。除了开发针对光相互作用优化的新型催化材料和催化剂架构外，该项目还通过在新型的光催化反应器中均匀分配催化剂板中的光，从而为反应堆设计带来了重大创新。水的可再生能源电解提供了所需的过程氢，并将氮与空气分离，并进一步转化为肥料，例如氨，碳酸盐或尿素。催化研究结果，结合该项目的社区和课程参与方法，将在三个方面推进科学：（1）对催化表面上光增强氮激活物理的基本理解； （2）用于基于可再生水的分布氨合成和肥料产生的集成系统的设计和建模； （3）对培训模块的原型制定，试点和评估，以将创新传达给利益相关者并朝着实施方向传达。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。