SPECIAL NOTICE
68 -- Reusing CO2 as Fuel: Converting Carbon Dioxide to Ethanol
- Notice Date
- 9/27/2018
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 325998
— All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory - UT Battelle LLC (DOE Contractor), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Bethel Valley Road, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6192
- ZIP Code
- 37831-6192
- Solicitation Number
- ORNL-TT-2018-04
- Archive Date
- 1/15/2019
- Point of Contact
- Michael J Paulus, Phone: 8655741051, Eugene Cochran, Phone: 865-576-2830
- E-Mail Address
-
paulusmj@ornl.gov, cochraner@ornl.gov
(paulusmj@ornl.gov, cochraner@ornl.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- UT-Battelle, LLC, acting under its Prime Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the management and operation of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is seeking a commercialization partner(s) for a promising commercial invention entitled, "Electrochemical Catalyst for Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol." Problem: Among the many proposed CO 2 mitigation strategies, recycling is a compelling option that is largely not performed outside of enhanced oil recovery, because the fundamental technologies needed to recycle CO 2 into useful chemicals are few. Further, the energy inputs necessary to chemically reduce carbon from the fully oxidized CO 2 form towards a hydrocarbon are significant, and unlikely to be economical using baseload electricity. A process is needed that can be utilize surplus electricity that would otherwise be curtailed for the production of useful products from CO 2. Solution: Researchers at ORNL have developed a process for converting CO 2 to ethanol by introducing CO 2 onto a sequential catalyst comprised of carbon nanospikes and copper nanoparticles. Together these react electrochemically with the CO 2 in the form of bicarbonate, producing ethanol. The process can be operated as a dispatchable load, which may match the intermittency of renewable sources such as wind and solar. A technology like this can offer a useful alternative to batteries for long term or portable storage of renewable electricity. Dr. Rondinone's team is now conducting studies to understand efficiency limits, lifetime limits, poisoning tolerance, and other potential improvements. The team has already demonstrated that the carbon nanospikes which form the basis of the catalyst are electrochemically stable for at least 300 hours and can be grown on a variety of substrates over wide areas. Impact: Applications of this technology are primarily in the areas of fuel production for applications where battery charging would be an inconvenience: commercial or long-distance transportation where liquid fuels offer better energy density, easier refueling and simple storage. Intellectual Property: Serial No.: 14/205,718 Pub. No.: US/2014/0262810 Pat No.: 9,637,828 Serial No.: 15/143,651 Pub No.: US/2017/0314148 Serial No.: 15/143,651 Pat Application No.: PCT/US2017/030545 Publications: Song, Y.; Peng, R.; Hensley, D. K.; Bonnesen, P. V.; Liang, L.; Wu, Z.; Meyer, H. M.; Chi, M.; Ma, C.; Sumpter, B. G.; Rondinone, A. J., " High-Selectivity Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol using a Copper Nanoparticle/N-Doped Graphene Electrode," Chemistry Select (2016), 1 (19), 6055-6061. Sheridan, L.B.; Hensley, D.K.; Lavrik, N.V.; Smith, S.C.; Schwartz, V.; Liang, C.; Wu, Z.; Meyer, H.M.; Rondinone, A.J., " Growth and Electrochemical Characterization of Carbon Nanospike Thin Film Electrodes," Journal of Electrochemical Society (2014). Song, Y., D. Johnson, R. Peng, D.K. Hensley, P.V. Bonnesen, L. Liang, J. Huang, F. Yang, F. Zhang, R. Qiao, A.P. Baddorf, T.J. Tschaplinski, N.L. Engle, M.C. Hatzell, Z. Wu, D.A. Cullen, H.M. Meyer, B.G. Sumpter, and A.J. Rondinone, A physical catalyst for the electrolysis of nitrogen to ammonia. Science Advances, 2018. 4 (4). Inventor: Dr. Adam Rondinone is a senior staff scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2001, and immediately joined Oak Ridge as a prestigious Wigner Fellow. He is an expert on materials chemistry at the nanoscale and his research is focused on developing novel means to create functional nanomaterials for energy applications. Recent work has explored nanostructured electrochemical catalysts for the conversion of waste to useful products. He has served on various committees in service to ORNL, including two years as a Legislative Fellow in the office of Senator Lamar Alexander working on energy and technology issues. He is also the outreach coordinator for the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. This technology was originally developed using federal funds and selected for further development under the laboratory's Technology Innovation Program (TIP). The ORNL TIP supports technology development using royalties from existing technology licenses to accelerate the market readiness of high potential technologies available for license. When a technology enters the ORNL TIP process, it is initially made unavailable for licensing to provide the R&D team with time to improve its marketability and to give prospective licensees time to evaluate its potential. When the technology has matured, typically 6-9 months after project start, ORNL issues a call for license applications. This call is announced via email and posted on FedBizOpps.gov approximately around Oct. 30, 2018. A TIP/TCF Showcase will be held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Oct. 18, 2018 and all technologies will offer presentations, laboratory tours, and time for questions on the technologies and licensing. A response date of Dec. 31, 2018 is required for your application to be considered. If more than one prospective partner seeks an exclusive license in the same field of use, the licensing applications are scored to objectively identify the prospective licensee most capable of commercializing the technology. Countries not available for licensing include: Japan, US, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei. Technology Power Point: Nanotechnology Based Catalysts for the Electrochemical Synthesis of Low Carbon Fuel and Fertilizer A Novel Catalyst for the Synthesis of Electrochemical Fuels [ summary, video ] ORNL Technology Innovation Program (TIP): https://www.ornl.gov/partnerships/technology-innovation-program How to license ORNL technologies: https://www.ornl.gov/partnerships/how-license-ornl-technologies https://www.ornl.gov/partnerships/licensing-guidelines https://www.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/license_application.pdf Additional Technical Information: Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into ethanol A Catalystic Shock
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/ORNL/ORNL/ORNL-TT-2018-04/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6196, United States
- Zip Code: 37831-6196
- Zip Code: 37831-6196
- Record
- SN05107838-W 20180929/180928010332-7c464012ec3b7ecbf3256e315957ee08 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |