Development of an economical approach for the production of low-carbon methanol and low-carbon methanol-derivatives

开发生产低碳甲醇和低碳甲醇衍生物的经济方法

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-03680
• 负责人: RegodeVasconcelos, Bruna
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=753795
• 关键词: Development; economical; approach; production; low

To tackle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions issues, the Canadian Government created the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) aiming to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels and energy systems used in the country, forcing the Canadian industry to replace the use of petroleum-derivatives with greener options. However, there are currently no renewable options that could effectively replace them. Hence, a variety of green technologies allowing the production of low-carbon energy products will have to be developed to address the whole energy demand and to decarbonize the Canadian economy. Methane, which is the main component of biogas and natural gas, will play a major role in the energy transition since it is a more sustainable option than crude oil and it is currently one of the cheapest carbon sources available. Converting methane to methanol, which is a more easily storable and transportable product is an interesting option allowing the valorization of different methane resources. However, the process currently used at industrial scale requires a large methanol production to be economical viable. Hence, the development of a new approach that can reduce the overall costs of this process is highly desirable and would also contribute to the economical production of methanol-derivatives, which could later replace petroleum-derivatives in our economy. The present research program will tackle this issue by proposing a new Power-to-X (PtX) approach that combines two processes. The first one will convert flue gas and surplus renewable electricity into syngas (which can then be converted to methanol) over a low-cost iron-based catalyst. This process allows not only the conversion of GHG gases but the chemical storage of renewable electricity as well. In the second process, the deactivated iron-based catalyst from the first process will be used to convert methane to methanol. Hence, the deactivated catalyst of the first process acts as a performing catalyst in the second process and vice-versa and the system can be "self-maintained". This approach will not only considerably reduce the costs of the individual processes (since both processes use the same infrastructure) but also contribute to decarbonize a large portion of the Canadian economy. The present Discovery Grant will mainly focus on the development and optimization of the catalytic system for the second process (methane oxidation to methanol) and on the comprehension of the reaction mechanisms, which will later contribute to the optimization and scale-up of the whole PtX approach. This 5-year project will contribute to the training of a diverse team (diverse expertise and nationalities) of highly qualified personnel (HQP) working in a context of interdisciplinary research on energy/materials (catalyst)/chemistry/chemical engineering (industrial/technological transfer), which will contribute with different expertise and points of view and will increase the excellence of the research program.

为了解决温室气体（GHG）排放问题，加拿大政府创建了旨在减少该国使用的燃料和能源系统的碳强度的清洁燃料标准（CFS），迫使加拿大工业取代使用绿色选择的石油衍生物。但是，目前尚无可续签选项可以有效替代它们。因此，必须开发出多种允许生产低碳能量产品的绿色技术，以解决整个能源需求并使加拿大经济脱碳。 甲烷是沼气和天然气的主要组成部分，它将在能源过渡中发挥重要作用，因为它比原油更可持续，目前是最便宜的碳源之一。将甲烷转化为甲醇，这是一种更容易存放和可运输的产品，是一个有趣的选择，允许不同的甲烷资源的价值。但是，目前在工业规模上使用的过程要求大量的甲醇生产是经济的。因此，一种可以降低这一过程的总体成本的新方法的发展是非常可取的，并且还将有助于甲醇衍生物的经济生产，后来可以取代我们经济中的石油衍生物。本研究计划将通过提出一种结合了两个过程的新功率对X（PTX）方法来解决此问题。第一个将在基于低成本的铁催化剂上将烟气和盈余可再生电力转换为合成剂（然后可以将其转换为甲醇）。此过程不仅允许温室气体的转化，还允许可再生电能的化学储存。在第二个过程中，从第一个过程中取消基于铁的催化剂将用于将甲烷转化为甲醇。因此，第一个过程的停用催化剂在第二个过程中充当性催化剂，反之亦然，并且系统可以“自我维护”。这种方法不仅会大大降低各个流程的成本（因为这两个过程都使用相同的基础设施），而且还有助于脱碳。目前的发现赠款将主要关注第二个过程的催化系统（甲烷氧化为甲醇）的开发和优化，以及对反应机制的理解，后来将有助于整个PTX方法的优化和扩展。这个为期5年的项目将有助于在能源/材料跨学科研究（Catalyst）/化学/化学工程（工业/技术转移）的背景下工作的高素质人员（HQP）的多样化团队（多样化的专业知识和国籍）的培训，这将有助于不同的专业知识和观点，并会增加研究计划的卓越性。