| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 9, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 9, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1743623 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Nancy Kamei
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $50,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $50,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4202 E FOWLER AVE TAMPA FL US 33620-5800 (813)974-2897 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4202 E Fowler Ave ENB 118 Tampa FL US 33620-5350 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | I-Corps |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to create a closed loop synthetic carbon cycle that addresses both carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation as well as generating high value hydrocarbons from waste CO2 feedstock. Currently, fossil-fuel-fired power plants typically exhibit significant emissions of CO2. The process developed here has the potential to capture this waste CO2 and repurpose it towards generation of hydrocarbon fuels and other high value hydrocarbons. It presents an opportunity for these electricity generation units to add profit margin in their business model based on these hydrocarbon chemicals. Similar opportunities are available to positively impact many other industries, as well.
This I-Corps project develops a sustainable repurposing of CO2. The process, reverse water gas shift chemical looping (RWGS-CL) has demonstrated capability of converting CO2 to CO at high rates and at low temperatures, paving the way for implementation at large scale. The temperatures of operation of RWGS-CL allows for thermal integration with Fischer Tropsch process (FTS). With FTS reactors already being used in industrial scale, the reactor module developed here can potentially find an appropriate use in those industries. This process involves the use of stable catalysts that can be used for several cycles without loss of activity. The process is designed such that there is no intermixing of CO and H2O or H2, thereby restricting any methane formation or any backward reaction.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The overall goal of this project is to translate a novel thermochemical approach for sustainable conversion of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbon fuels. The focal points of this project were customer discovery and prototype development. The project addresses the overall carbon cycle in the economy and environment, with the approach of carbon recycling or Carbon Capture & Utilization/Use (CCU) in a closed loop. Most current energy strategies, especially for transportation, require carbon-based fuels and thus CO2 emissions. Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) is an emerging technology that involves capturing CO2 at the generation sites or directly from air and then transporting and storing it at selected natural sites. However, capture from mobile sources is even more challenging. Alternatively, CCU is an attractive alternative option due to its closed carbon cycle, but feasibility is lacking due to low performance metrics. Our technology re-purposes CO2 from a pollutant to a feedstock by a transformative and scalable chemical looping approach. The advantages of chemical looping are that hydrogen input can be minimized, mixing of hydrogen and carbon are avoided, negating methane formation as an unwanted side product, and product separations occur inherently.
The outcome of this project has successfully addressed this issue, demonstrating carbon dioxide conversion at low temperatures with high carbon monoxide production rates and anticipated efficiencies than conventional technologies. Our findings from customer discovery indicate many challenges – yet great potential benefits – of upcycling CO2 to value added products. Beyond the uphill energy (thermodynamics) battle, there are substantial economic and technical challenges. However, energy storage of transient renewable energy sources (e.g., wind and solar) remain a substantial challenge for which there is substantial pressure point. Further analysis indicates that there are a wide variety of local economic and environmental contributions and many niche applications could support the higher costs even in today’s current energy climate. All of these factors motivate a continued effort to the development of the technology. The broader impact of this project thereby translates to solving carbon dioxide mitigation problem along with closing a synthetic carbon cycle that forms the backbone/core of our energy resources and global economy.
Last Modified: 07/10/2019
Modified by: John N Kuhn
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