FMSG: Eco: Distributed Eco-Manufacturing Using Radio Frequency Heating of Nanomaterials

Distributed chemical manufacturing aims to utilize stranded resources, enable flexible and mobile production, and reduce the environmental footprints associated with conventional centralized manufacturing. Distributed chemical manufacture can be enabled by electrification (i.e., a “Power-to-Chemicals” paradigm), which has garnered interest due to the promise of low carbon or renewable electrical energy sources replacing conventional fossil fuel heating processes. In this Future Manufacturing Seed Grant (FMSG) project, the investigators will develop a new chemicals manufacturing process based on electrical power, rather than fossil fuels. The key to this approach is the use of nanomaterials that rapidly heat up in response to electromagnetically generated radio-frequency (RF) fields; this allows for a completely new way to deliver heat in chemical reactors. Graduate and undergraduate students will participate in this project and receive training at both the labscale (reactor design) and industry scale (techno-economic analysis). The undergraduate researchers will be be mentored by collaborators in industry. In addition, a Research-Experience-for-Teachers will engage high-school and college instructors from West Texas to develop learning modules for workforce training, particularly as related to efficient utilization of shale gas resources to ensure U.S. energy security while minimizing carbon emissions. RF susceptor materials, particularly carbon nanomaterials, show a rapid heating response when exposed to RF fields. The investigators recently demonstrated a hybrid susceptor/catalyst capable of providing thermal energy for catalytic methanol reforming. This concept will be extended to a promising candidate reaction, propane dehydrogenation (PDH). Specific research objectives are: (1) construct and investigate PDH reactors with RF susceptor/catalyst hybrid packed beds coupled with external RF applicators. Rate expressions will be developed, and heat generation and heat/mass transfer will be analyzed using experimentation and computational models (in consultation with industry partners), and (2) lab-scale data will be analyzed in large-scale sustainability and process model integration to assess the economic/environmental impact of the manufacturing techniques. The ability to volumetrically heat using RF fields could address the chief scientific obstacles to the “Power-to-Chemicals” eco-manufacturing initiative. By focusing upon the industrially relevant heat-transfer limited endothermic catalytic process of propane dehydrogenation (PDH), and actively collaborating with Dow Chemical, the specific technical impact is anticipated to bring a transformational change in the application of renewable electrical power to distributed chemical manufacturing. This Future Manufacturing award was supported by the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation and the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems. 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.