PFI-RP: Converting waste gas into clean hydrogen for sustainable steel production

PFI-RP：将废气转化为清洁氢气，实现可持续钢铁生产

• 批准号: 2329857
• 负责人: Fanxing Li
• 金额: $ 99.97万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329857&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; RP; Converting; waste; gas

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is the efficient production of carbon free hydrogen along with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. iron and steel industry. Iron and steel manufacturing produces large amounts of fuel-rich gases that are currently wasted. Applying the proposed technology to iron and steel manufacturing can use this wasted resource with high energy efficiency, with the potential to eliminate more than 500 million tons/year of CO2 emissions worldwide. Furthermore, the technology will improve the economic attractiveness for greener iron and steel production. For instance, it can produce $26 million/year worth of H2 in a single plant we identified. Moreover, the proposed technology is applicable to utilize a variety of industrial waste gases, biogas, and/or landfill gas feedstocks with zero or even negative net CO2 emissions. Successful completion of the proposed project will lead to significant economic benefits for U.S. iron/steel production while advancing U.S. industry towards a carbon-free future. In addition to its technological impacts, the proposed project offers an exceptional opportunity to educate a new generation of engineers in academic research skills and leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship in process intensification and sustainable energy technologies.The proposed project will address the inefficient use of “waste” gases that come from state-of-the-art iron production processes. These gases often contain significant amounts of fuels such as methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen diluted with carbon dioxide. While conventional technologies exist to convert these gases into hydrogen fuel and carbon dioxide, they are complex and inefficient, particularly given the mixed nature of the waste gas. We have developed a new technology that efficiently converts the waste gas into separate streams of sequestrable carbon dioxide and hydrogen, in two interconnected steps. Our preliminary results support the viability and attractiveness of the proposed technology. The proposed project is designed to specifically address the remaining technological gaps including further optimization of the redox catalysts, large-scale catalyst production, data-driven improvement of reactor operation, demonstration of the process with a real waste gas stream from the plant, and detailed economic and environmental analyses. This will be achieved through the deployment of a small pilot unit at an iron/steel production site, demonstrating the viability of producing hydrogen from the waste gas. The project will pave the way for commercialization after the project.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.

该创新伙伴关系 - 研究伙伴关系 (PFI-RP) 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是高效生产无碳氢气，同时减少美国钢铁工业的温室气体排放。将目前浪费的大量富含燃料的气体应用到钢铁制造中，可以高能源效率地利用这种浪费的资源，有可能在全球范围内减少每年超过 5 亿吨的二氧化碳排放。将提高绿色钢铁生产的经济吸引力，例如，我们确定的单个工厂每年可生产价值 2600 万美元的氢气。此外，所提出的技术适用于利用各种工业废气、沼气、和/或垃圾填埋气原料的二氧化碳净排放量为零甚至负值。除了技术之外，拟议项目的成功完成将为美国钢铁生产带来显着的经济效益，同时推动美国工业迈向无碳未来。影响，拟议的项目提供了一个特殊的机会来教育新一代工程师在工艺强化和可持续能源技术方面的学术研究技能和领导力、创新和创业精神。拟议的项目将解决产生的“废”气的低效利用问题这些气体通常含有大量的燃料，例如甲烷、一氧化碳和用二氧化碳稀释的氢气，虽然存在将这些气体转化为氢燃料和二氧化碳的传统技术。很复杂并且效率低下，特别是考虑到废气的混合性质，我们开发了一种新技术，可以通过两个相互关联的步骤将废气有效地转化为可隔离的二氧化碳和氢气。拟议项目旨在专门解决剩余的技术差距，包括进一步优化氧化还原催化剂、大规模催化剂生产、数据驱动的反应器操作改进、用工厂的真实废气流演示工艺，以及详细的经济和环境分析。将通过在钢铁生产现场部署一个小型试点装置来实现，展示从废气中生产氢气的可行性，该项目将为项目后的商业化铺平道路。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并已获得批准。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，被认为值得支持。