SBIR Phase I: CAS: A light-based, energy-generating, carbon removal process

SBIR 第一阶段：CAS：基于光的能量产生碳去除过程

• 批准号: 2335596
• 负责人: Julian Sachs
• 金额: $ 27.41万
• 依托单位: BANYU CARBON INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-15 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335596&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; CAS; light; based

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project includes reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and sequestering them permanently or reusing them to make sustainable chemicals. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s most authoritative body of climate scientists and policymakers, has declared that billions of tons of carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere annually by 2050 to prevent global temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. If successful, this research would provide a path to gigaton-scale carbon removal. The low energy requirements of the process could allow for deployment in locations distant from large energy infrastructure to bring the benefits and jobs of a new carbon removal industry to communities most affected by weather related events.This project will commercialize a fundamentally new approach to carbon removal. The vast amount of carbon dioxide locked in seawater remains dissolved if it stays near neutral pH, but outgases spontaneously when acidified. This process uses a light-triggered reversible photoacid as a low-energy means to temporarily acidify seawater and drive out carbon dioxide, which can then be stored or used in industry. The proprietary photoacid at the heart of the process changes its structural conformation when exposed to visible light and releases a proton. The resulting increase in acidity upon illumination provides the proton driving force for carbon capture. Sunlight not absorbed by the photoacid can be used to generate electricity with embedded polysilicon solar cells. Two aspects of the system need to be improved for the process to be deployed at scale. The photoacid’s resistance to degradation needs to be increased or a simple and scalable process to recover the degraded photoacid needs to be demonstrated. In addition, the ion exchange membranes used in the initial lab prototype are expensive and need to be replaced with cheaper and higher flux membranes. If successful, these developments would lead to a scalable and affordable carbon removal process.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.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I期项目的广播/商业影响包括减少大气中的温室气体量，并永久隔离它们或重用它们制造可持续的化学品。政府间气候变化小组（IPCC）是世界上最有权威的气候科学家和决策者机构，宣布，到2050年，必须每年每年从大气中删除数十亿吨二氧化碳，以防止全球温度从高于1.5°C以上的1.5°C以上超过1.5°C，避免了较高的气候变化。如果成功的话，这项研究将为去除碳量的碳去除。该过程的低能需求可能会允许在远离大型能源基础设施的地点部署，以将新的碳清除业的收益和工作带给受天气相关事件影响最大的社区。该项目将使从根本上商业化碳除去的新方法。如果二氧化碳锁定在中性pH值附近，则将大量二氧化碳锁定在海水中，但在酸度酸度时会占据赞助。此过程使用轻触发的可逆光酸作为低能的方法，可以临时酸化海水并驱逐二氧化碳，然后可以将其存储或用于行业。该过程核心的专有光酸在暴露于可见光并释放质子时会改变其结构构象。照明时酸度的增加为碳捕获提供了质子驱动力。未被光酸吸收的阳光可用于用嵌入式多硅元素太阳能电池发电。为了大规模部署该过程，需要改进系统的两个方面。需要增加光接抗性的抵抗力，或者需要简单可扩展的过程才能恢复降解光酸的降解。此外，初始实验室原型中使用的离子交换机制很昂贵，需要用更便宜和更高的通量机制代替。如果成功的话，这些发展将导致可扩展且负担得起的碳去除过程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为是通过评估来获得珍贵的支持。