The industrial sector in the U.S. is responsible for a significant portion of carbon dioxide emissions, surpassing even the combined emissions from passenger vehicles, trucks, and airplanes. It is imperative to decarbonize this sector to effectively address the impact on our future climate.
Exciting breakthroughs have emerged from Stanford Engineering, where researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking thermochemical reactor. This innovative technology can produce the high levels of heat needed for industrial processes using electricity instead of fossil fuels.
Not only is this design environmentally friendly, but it is also characterized by its compact size, affordability, and superior efficiency compared to existing fossil fuel technologies.
“We have an electrified and scalable reactor infrastructure for thermochemical processes that features ideal heating and heat-transfer properties,” said Jonathan Fan, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford and senior author of the paper. “Essentially, we’re pushing reactor performance to its physical limits, and we’re using green electricity to power it.”
The latest innovation in thermochemical reactors is set to revolutionize the way we think about heating processes. Unlike standard reactors, which rely on burning fossil fuels and require extensive infrastructure, the new electrified reactor uses cutting-edge magnetic induction technology to generate heat internally. This means no more heat loss during transportation, as the heat is created directly within the reactor itself.
Just imagine the possibilities of this game-changing approach – improved efficiency, reduced energy consumption, and more sustainable energy production. It’s time to embrace the future of heating with induction technology.
Adapting induction heating for the chemicals industry isn’t just about raising the temperature. Industrial reactors necessitate the uniform distribution of heat in a three-dimensional space and demand higher efficiency than standard stovetop heating. The research team has discovered that by harnessing extremely high-frequency currents in tandem with reactor materials that are poor conductors of electricity, we can truly maximize efficiency.
This breakthrough involved leveraging cutting-edge, high-efficiency electronics developed by Juan Rivas-Davila, an esteemed associate professor of electrical engineering and co-author of our paper. These electronics generated the required currents, which were then used to inductively heat a three-dimensional lattice composed of a poorly conducting ceramic material at the reactor’s core.
The lattice structure is paramount, as the voids within it artificially decrease the electrical conductivity, leading to even greater efficiency. Moreover, these voids can be filled with catalysts – the very materials that need to be heated to kickstart chemical reactions. This innovative configuration facilitates more efficient heat transfer and allows for a significantly smaller electrified reactor compared to traditional fossil fuel reactors.
“You’re heating a large surface area structure that is right next to the catalyst, so the heat you’re generating gets to the catalyst very quickly to drive the chemical reactions,” Fan said. “Plus, it’s simplifying everything. You’re not transferring heat from somewhere else and losing some along the way. You don’t have any pipes going in and out of the reactor, but you can fully insulate it. This is ideal from an energy management and cost point of view.”
Researchers harnessed the power of a cutting-edge reactor to drive a groundbreaking chemical process known as the reverse water gas shift reaction, using an innovative sustainable catalyst developed by Matthew Kanan, a distinguished chemistry professor at Stanford and co-author of the study. This revolutionary reaction, which operates at high temperatures, has the potential to transform captured carbon dioxide into a valuable gas that can be utilized to produce sustainable fuels.
In an impressive proof-of-concept demonstration, the reactor achieved an efficiency of over 85%, signifying its ability to convert nearly all electrical energy into usable heat. Furthermore, the reactor provided optimal conditions for catalyzing the chemical reaction, successfully converting carbon dioxide into usable gas at the theoretically predicted rate – a feat rarely accomplished by new reactor designs.
“As we make these reactors even larger or operate them at even higher temperatures, they just get more efficient,” Fan said. “That’s the story of electrification – we’re not just trying to replace what we have, we’re creating even better performance.”
Fan, Rivas-Davila, Kanan, and their team are actively spearheading the expansion of their groundbreaking reactor technology, exploring its diverse applications. Their efforts extend to developing reactors for carbon dioxide capture and cement production, collaborating with industry leaders in oil and gas to tailor the technology to their needs. Additionally, they are dedicated to conducting comprehensive economic analyses to envision sustainable, cost-effective solutions on a systemic scale.
“Electrification affords us the opportunity to reinvent infrastructure, breaking through existing bottlenecks and shrinking and simplifying these types of reactors, in addition to decarbonizing them,” Fan said. “Industrial decarbonization is going to require new, systems-level approaches, and I think we’re just getting started.”
Journal reference:
- Calvin H. Lin, Chenghao Wan, Zhennan Ru, Matthew W. Kanan, Juan Rivas-Davila, Jonathan A. Fan. Electrified thermochemical reaction systems with high-frequency metamaterial reactors. Joule, 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2024.07.017