Engineering topics

Stechel, Ellen Beth

Publications and source records attributed to Stechel, Ellen Beth.

5 records

DOE OSTI2012

Reimagining Liquid Transportation Fuels: Sunshine to Petrol

Two of the most daunting problems facing humankind in the twenty-first century are energy security and climate change. This report summarizes work accomplished towards addressing these problems through the execution of a Grand Challenge LDRD project (FY09-11). The vision of Sunshine to Petrol is captured in one deceptively simple chemical equation: Solar Energy + xCO 2 + (x+1)H 2 O → C x H 2x+2 (liquid fuel) + (1.5x+.5)O 2 Practical implementation of this equation may seem far-fetched, since it effectively describes the use of solar energy to reverse combustion. However, it is also representative of the photosynthetic processes responsible for much of life on earth and, as such, summarizes the biomass approach to fuels production. It is our contention that an alternative approach, one that is not limited by efficiency of photosynthesis and more directly leads to a liquid fuel, is desirable. The development of a process that efficiently, cost effectively, and sustainably reenergizes thermodynamically spent feedstocks to create reactive fuel intermediates would be an unparalleled achievement and is the key challenge that must be surmounted to solve the intertwined problems of accelerating energy demand and climate change. We proposed that the direct thermochemical conversion of CO 2 and H 2 O to CO and H 2 , which are the universal building blocks for synthetic fuels, serve as the basis for this revolutionary process. To realize this concept, we addressed complex chemical, materials science, and engineering problems associated with thermochemical heat engines and the crucial metal-oxide working-materials deployed therein. By project's end, we had demonstrated solar-driven conversion of CO 2 to CO, a key energetic synthetic fuel intermediate, at 1.7% efficiency.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2010

Process development and techno-economic analysis of a novel process for MeOH production from CO2 using solar-thermal energy.

Mitigating and overcoming environmental problems brought about by the current worldwide fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure requires the creation of innovative alternatives. In particular, such alternatives must actively contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions via carbon recycling and a shift to the use of renewable sources of energy. Carbon neutral transformation of biomass to liquid fuels is one of such alternatives, but it is limited by the inherently low energy efficiency of photosynthesis with regard to the net production of biomass. Researchers have thus been looking for alternative, energy-efficient chemical routes inspired in the biological transformation of solar power, CO2 and H2O into useful chemicals; specifically, liquid fuels. Methanol has been the focus of a fair number of publications for its versatility as a fuel, and its use as an intermediate chemical in the synthesis of many compounds. In some of these studies, (e.g. Joo et al., (2004), Mignard and Pritchard (2006), Galindo and Badr (2007)) CO2 and renewable H2 (e.g. electrolytic H2) are considered as the raw materials for the production of methanol and other liquid fuels. Several basic PFD diagrams have been proposed. One of the most promising is the so called CAMERE process (Joo et al., 1999 ). In this process, carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen are fed to a first reactor and transformed according to: H2 + CO2 <=> H2O + CO Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) After eliminating the produced water the resulting H2/CO2/CO mixture is then feed to a second reactor where it is converted to methanol according to: CO2 + 3.H2 <=> CH3OH + H2O Methanol Synthesis (MS) CO + H2O <=> CO2 + H2 Water Gas Shift (WGS) The approach here is to produce enough CO to eliminate, via WGS, the water produced by MS. This is beneficial since water has been proven to block active sites in the MS catalyst. In this work a different process alternative is presented: One that combines the CO2 recycling of the CAMERE process and the use of solar energy implicit in some of the biomass-based process, but in this case with the potential high energy efficiency of thermo-chemical transformations.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2010

Solid oxide electrochemical reactor science.

Solid-oxide electrochemical cells are an exciting new technology. Development of solid-oxide cells (SOCs) has advanced considerable in recent years and continues to progress rapidly. This thesis studies several aspects of SOCs and contributes useful information to their continued development. This LDRD involved a collaboration between Sandia and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) ins solid-oxide electrochemical reactors targeted at solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOEC), which are the reverse of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC). SOECs complement Sandia's efforts in thermochemical production of alternative fuels. An SOEC technology would co-electrolyze carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) with steam at temperatures around 800 C to form synthesis gas (H{sub 2} and CO), which forms the building blocks for a petrochemical substitutes that can be used to power vehicles or in distributed energy platforms. The effort described here concentrates on research concerning catalytic chemistry, charge-transfer chemistry, and optimal cell-architecture. technical scope included computational modeling, materials development, and experimental evaluation. The project engaged the Colorado Fuel Cell Center at CSM through the support of a graduate student (Connor Moyer) at CSM and his advisors (Profs. Robert Kee and Neal Sullivan) in collaboration with Sandia.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2010

Improved high temperature solar absorbers for use in Concentrating Solar Power central receiver applications.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems use solar absorbers to convert the heat from sunlight to electric power. Increased operating temperatures are necessary to lower the cost of solar-generated electricity by improving efficiencies and reducing thermal energy storage costs. Durable new materials are needed to cope with operating temperatures >600 C. The current coating technology (Pyromark High Temperature paint) has a solar absorptance in excess of 0.95 but a thermal emittance greater than 0.8, which results in large thermal losses at high temperatures. In addition, because solar receivers operate in air, these coatings have long term stability issues that add to the operating costs of CSP facilities. Ideal absorbers must have high solar absorptance (>0.95) and low thermal emittance (<0.05) in the IR region, be stable in air, and be low-cost and readily manufacturable. We propose to utilize solution-based synthesis techniques to prepare intrinsic absorbers for use in central receiver applications.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2010

Thermokinetic/mass-transfer analysis of carbon capture for reuse/sequestration.

Effective capture of atmospheric carbon is a key bottleneck preventing non bio-based, carbon-neutral production of synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuels using CO{sub 2} as the carbon feedstock. Here we outline the boundary conditions of atmospheric carbon capture for recycle to liquid hydrocarbon fuels production and re-use options and we also identify the technical advances that must be made for such a process to become technically and commercially viable at scale. While conversion of atmospheric CO{sub 2} into a pure feedstock for hydrocarbon fuels synthesis is presently feasible at the bench-scale - albeit at high cost energetically and economically - the methods and materials needed to concentrate large amounts of CO{sub 2} at low cost and high efficiency remain technically immature. Industrial-scale capture must entail: (1) Processing of large volumes of air through an effective CO{sub 2} capture media and (2) Efficient separation of CO{sub 2} from the processed air flow into a pure stream of CO{sub 2}.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗