Description du projet
La technologie photonique pour transformer le dioxyde de carbone en carburants
Le projet SPOTLIGHT, financé par l’UE, travaillera sur un nouveau dispositif photonique pour convertir le dioxyde de carbone et l’hydrogène en méthane et en monoxyde de carbone, qui constitue la matière première pour la production de méthanol. Les carburants à base de méthane et de méthanol pourraient être utilisés dans les voitures et les applications de stockage d’énergie. Le dispositif photonique de SPOTLIGHT comprendra un réacteur à flux transparent optimisé pour le couplage de la lumière dans le lit de catalyseur, une optique solaire secondaire pour concentrer la lumière du soleil et la projeter sur le réacteur, et une diode électroluminescente économe en énergie pour fonctionner en continu 24 heures sur 24. Le nouveau concept de dispositif et de processus est bien adapté aux sources de CO2 pouvant atteindre 1 Mt par an, ce qui les rend complémentaires aux processus existants de capture et d’utilisation du carbone à grande échelle.
Objectif
SPOTLIGHT’s key objective is to develop and validate a photonic device and chemical process concept for the sunlight-powered conversion of CO2 and green H2 to the chemical fuel methane (CH4, Sabatier process), and to carbon monoxide (CO, reverse water gas shift process) as starting material for production of the chemical fuel methanol (CH3OH). Both CH4 and CH3OH are compatible with our current infrastructure, and suited for multiple applications such as car fuel, energy storage, and starting material for the production of valuable chemicals.
SPOTLIGHT’s photonic device will comprise a transparent flow reactor, optimized for light incoupling in the catalyst bed. Furthermore, it will comprise secondary solar optics to concentrate natural sunlight and project it onto the reactor, and an energy efficient LED light source to ensure continuous 24/7 operation.
SPOTLIGHT’s catalysts will be plasmonic catalysts, capable of absorbing the entire solar spectrum. The space-time-yield achieved to date with these catalysts in the Sabatier and rWGS process are > 104 times higher than for conventional semiconductor catalysts. This makes the concept technically feasible for scale up without excessive land use, and makes it economically much more attractive because of strongly reduced capital expenditures.
SPOTLIGHT’s photonic device and process concept are perfectly suited for CO2 sources up to 1 Mt p.a. which makes them complementary to existing large scale CCU processes. For the EU, we estimate that the annual CO2 reduction through use of SPOTLIGHT’s technology is maximized to 800 Mt, which is approximately 18% of the current annual total. This could generate an amount of CH4 produced in the EU which equals 14.5 EJ of energy, corresponding to 21% of the EU’s current annual energy use, and representing a value of € 393 bil. Ergo, SPOTLIGHT’s technology reduces the dependence of the EU on non-EU countries for its energy supply, and initiates a new multi-billion industry.
Champ scientifique
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaliphatic compounds
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
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Programme(s)
Régime de financement
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
2595 DA Den Haag
Pays-Bas