Catalysis for Green Fuel Processes and Environmental Remediation

绿色燃料工艺和环境修复的催化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-03369
• 负责人: Hazlett, Melanie
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: Concordia University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=741895
• 关键词: Catalysis; Green; Fuel; Processes; Environmental

Climate change is a grand challenge facing society today, and while the move to electric and hybrid vehicles is happening slowly, there needs to be greener alternatives available for fuels used in internal combustion engines. This is particularly relevant in Canada, where the use of electrified vehicles may not be practical for the agricultural industry, for moving freight inland, for marine transport, or for rural or isolated northern indigenous communities. Recent green fuel trends include the fermentation of biomass to produce ethanol as a biofuel, and the reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol via electrocatalytic processes. Methanol and ethanol are both candidates for green spark ignition (SI) engine fuels, however need upgrading for use in compression ignition (CI) engine applications. Methanol and ethanol can be upgraded to dimethyl ether and diethyl ether respectively. In my research program, my objective is to investigate the reaction networks for the production of dimethyl ether from carbon dioxide and identify possible catalytic processes that will make the production of these fuels industrially feasible, and attractive for widespread use across Canada. With the production of these dimethyl ether and diethyl ether fuels, it must be ensured that the emissions from using these as fuels meet environmental regulations, which constitutes the second objective of my research program. To summarize, the goal of this research program is to design sustainable processes around producing green and alternative fuels centered around the chemistry and catalysis. We will use process modeling and analysis to determine the best reaction pathway from carbon dioxide to dimethyl ether. This process analysis will help us determine how we want to couple reactions, what opportunities we have to overcome any thermodynamic limitations during reactions by coupling reactions, and ultimately what criteria and operating conditions the catalyst will need to operate under. Understanding reactions at the mechanistic level will lead to insights at the process level, which is why we will perform careful kinetic and mechanistic studies to create and validate kinetic models. We will also integrate the ideas of coupling reactions over dual functional catalysts and/or rationally designing catalyst architectures which are specially designed for these novel catalytic processes. For the emissions of green fuels in CI or SI engines to meet environmental regulations, we will rationally design the emissions catalysts to oxidize the unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide and reduce nitrogen oxides for the emissions for engine technologies using these fuels or fuel blends. We can test and then refine our catalyst design through kinetic and mechanistic studies.

气候变化是当今社会面临的巨大挑战，尽管转向电动和混合动力汽车的发生缓慢，但需要有更绿色的替代品，用于内燃机中使用的燃料。这在加拿大尤其重要，在加拿大使用电气化车辆可能对农业行业，货运内陆，海洋运输或农村或孤立的北部土著社区而言并不实用。最近的绿色燃料趋势包括生物质发酵以产生乙醇作为生物燃料，以及通过电催化过程将二氧化碳降低至甲醇。甲醇和乙醇都是绿色火花点火（SI）发动机燃料的候选者，但是需要升级用于压缩点火（CI）发动机应用。甲醇和乙醇可以分别升级为二甲基醚和二乙基醚。在我的研究计划中，我的目标是研究从二氧化碳生产二甲基醚的反应网络，并确定可能使这些燃料在工业上可行的催化过程，并且在整个加拿大的广泛使用中都有吸引力。随着这些二甲基醚和二乙基醚燃料的生产，必须确保将使用这些燃料作为燃料符合环境法规的排放，这构成了我的研究计划的第二个目标。 总而言之，该研究计划的目标是设计围绕化学和催化的绿色和替代燃料的可持续过程。我们将使用过程建模和分析来确定从二氧化碳到二甲基醚的最佳反应途径。该过程分析将有助于我们确定如何进行夫妇反应，通过耦合反应在反应过程中克服任何热力学限制的机会，并最终将催化剂在下面进行的标准和操作条件进行哪些标准和操作条件。理解机械水平的反应将导致在过程水平上的见解，这就是为什么我们将进行仔细的动力学和机械研究以创建和验证动力学模型的原因。我们还将整合在双重功能催化剂和/或合理设计催化剂体系结构上的耦合反应的思想，这些催化剂结构是专门为这些新型催化过程设计的。为了满足环境法规的CI或SI发动机中绿色燃料的排放，我们将合理设计排放催化剂，以氧化未燃烧的碳氢化合物和一氧化碳，并减少使用这些燃料或燃料搅拌机的发动机技术排放的氮氧化物。我们可以通过动力学和机械研究来测试并完善催化剂设计。