Transformations of methane and carbon dioxide to chemical feedstocks, fuels, and materials
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Global warming and associated climate change effects are the defining issue of the 21st century and decarbonization of all sectors is imperative to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change. Of particular importance are new, cost-effective, and greenhouse-gas-emissions-free chemical transformation processes to convert CO2 into chemicals, fuels, and materials. This is in contrast to today's processes for producing chemicals, fuels, and materials, as nearly every such process produces direct and/or indirect CO2 emissions. As a result, the paradigm shift that needs to occur is the transition from fossil-based sources for chemicals, fuels, and materials production to the use of CO2 itself to produce these products, as this would allow for negative emissions by sequestering CO2 in solid form. However, due to CO2's negligible value from a thermodynamic standpoint; nearly every CO2 transformation is endothermic, requiring energy. This required energy can take the form of clean, emissions-free electricity obtained from solar and wind, for example, but widespread proliferation of renewable sources of electricity generation has yet to occur and the challenge of grid-scale energy storage has not yet been adequately addressed. A better alternative for this required energy exists in the form of a co-reactant with high enthalpy, such as CH4. CH4 is arguably the most advantageous co-reactant due to its abundance and relatively low cost. Therefore, CH4 and CO2 are expected to be the feedstocks of the future to produce fuels, chemicals, and materials. Three such processes to transform CO2 and CH4 to chemical and fuels are discussed at length in this dissertation: 1) low temperature CO2 utilization via reverse water-gas-shift chemical-looping, 2) CH4 pyrolysis for the production of CO2-free H2 and carbon nanotubes, and 3) photocatalytic direct CH4 to CH3OH.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Sun, Edward |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Majumdar, Arunava |
| Thesis advisor | Majumdar, Arunava |
| Thesis advisor | Chueh, William |
| Thesis advisor | Zheng, Xiaolin, 1978- |
| Degree committee member | Chueh, William |
| Degree committee member | Zheng, Xiaolin, 1978- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Engineering |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Eddie Sun. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/kp092zs3682 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Edward Sun
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
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