Chemical Engineering July 2023 - 8

into orbit in January is operational
and has demonstrated
its ability to wirelessly
transmit power in space
and to beam detectable
power to Earth for the first
time. This wireless power
transfer was demonstrated
by MAPLE, one of three key
technologies being tested
by the Space Solar Power
Demonstrator
(SSPD-1),
the first space-borne prototype
from Caltech's (Pasadena,
Calif.; www.caltech.
edu) Space Solar Power
Project (SSPP). SSPP aims
to harvest solar power in
space and transmit it to the
Earth's surface.
MAPLE (Microwave Array
for Power-transfer Loworbit
Experiment), one of
the three key experiments
within SSPD-1, consists
of an array of flexible lightweight
microwave-power
transmitters driven by custom
electronic chips that
were built using low-cost
silicon technologies. It uses
the array of transmitters to
beam the energy to desired
locations. Using constructive
and destructive interference
between individual
transmitters, a bank of
power transmitters is able
to shift the focus and direction
of the energy it beams
out - without any moving
parts. The transmitter array
uses precise timing-control
elements to dynamically
focus the power selectively
on
the
desired
location
using the coherent addition
of electromagnetic waves.
This enables the majority of
the energy to be transmitted
to the desired location and
nowhere else.
CO2 CAPTURE
A CO2 capture process,
jointly developed by Heidelberg
Materials (www.
heidelbergmaterials.com),
Linde GmbH (Pullach;
www.linde-gas.de)
and
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, all
Germany; www.basf.com),
and based on BASF's advanced
OASE blue technology,
will be used for the first
time at a large-scale CO2capture
facility operated by
Capture-to-Use
(CAP2U)
(Continues on p. 9)
8
A photocatalytic platform for CO2 utilization
A
s more and more CO2 is finding its
way into carbon-capture systems
instead of the air, the demand for
new
technologies
that
actually
utilize CO2 is also rising. A new photocatalysis
platform developed by New Iridium
(Boulder, Colo.; www. newiridium.com)
can efficiently convert CO2 into high-value
chemicals using ambient temperatures and
low-cost hydrocarbon feedstock. " We are
using photons to activate chemical reactions,
as opposed to high temperatures.
Our key expertise is in designing new photocatalysts
to absorb photons and channel
that energy into breaking and forming
chemical bonds, " explains Chern-Hooi
Lim, founder and CEO of New Iridium. The
key feature behind New Iridium's CO2 utilization
technology is the ability to selectively
activate the C-H bond in hydrocarbons,
enabling the addition of CO2 to ultimately
form carboxylic acids.
Many of today's methods for CO2 conversion
involve electrochemical processes
that use water as a co-feedstock and require
high energy input. The photocatalysis
platform requires fewer overall processing
steps and uses far less energy. Another
benefit compared to conventional thermal
methods, points out co-founder and COO
Brent Cutcliffe, is the ability to electrify the
process. " Renewable electricity can be
supplied to the LED technology that powers
our reactors, which enables some degree
of process intensification versus capturing
sunlight ourselves. LEDs can emit
at different wavelengths and we tune the
photocatalyst
to match specific wavelengths, "
says Cutcliffe. He also points out
that the convergence of lower-cost renewables
with advances in LED technologies
is crucial to the feasibility of photocatalysis
today. " Even ten years ago, regardless of
how efficient we could make the process,
it would be prohibitive to do these types of
processes, " he adds.
Braskem S.A. (São Paulo, Brazil; www.
braskem.com) has joined New Iridium as
a partner to scale up and further develop
the technology. " We are currently doing
hundreds of reactions each day at the
laboratory scale. The next step will likely
be a 5-ton/yr demonstration mini-plant, "
says Lim.
Lithium metal for next-generation batteries
produced from Li2CO3 in pilot facility
Jastrzebski notes.
I
n May, Li-Metal Corp. (Markham, Ont.;
www.li-metal.com) announced the production
of refined lithium metal from
lithium carbonate salt using a new electrolysis
process at the company's pilot facility
in Ontario, Canada. The lithium metal
produced at the pilot plant is primarily
intended for use in the anodes of nextgeneration
batteries, which aim for greater
energy density (increasing from 250-280
W-h/kg in current batteries to 350-400
W-h/kg and beyond for future batteries).
Battery anodes made from lithium metal
have distinct advantages over currently produced
graphite-based anodes. " Li-metal
anodes can reduce CO2 emissions for the
overall process by 10 times or more, " says
Maciej Jastrzebski, co-founder and chief
technology officer at Li-Metal. " And using
lithium anodes to replace graphite can enable
weight savings of 100 kg or more for
each car, which would increase vehicle
range significantly. " Also, the boost in energy
density from using Li-metal anodes
could allow enhanced performance from
Fe-based cathode materials, thus avoiding
the need for scarce and problematic-tomine
minerals like Co and Ni, which appear
in the highest-performing cathodes,
Conventional Li-metal processes involve
molten-salt electrolysis of LiCl,
which generates chlorine gas. To avoid
that, Li-Metal's process begins with
Li2CO3, electrolyzing the material in a flow
cell that produces the metal. " We use the
same electrolyte as the conventional process,
but use it as a solvent to dissolve
the Li2CO3, " says Jastrzebski. The pilot
plant is now producing Li metal, and has
a nameplate capacity of 2.5 ton/yr of Li
metal at full-scale. Typical future commercial
facilities would be designed for a
capacity between 500 and 2,000 ton/yr.
An important technological achievement
that allowed the process to be
scaled successfully is the development of
a specialized membrane that separates
the two sides of the electrolytic reaction,
thus preventing side reactions that
can form lithium oxide and solid carbon,
which can foul the process if the separation
is not sufficiently robust.
In addition to the process for refined lithium
metal, the company is also developing
a physical vapor-deposition process that
can be used for producing layered anodes
for batteries.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
JULY 2023
http://www.newiridium.com http://www.caltech.edu http://www.caltech.edu http://www.braskem.com http://www.braskem.com http://www.li-metal.com http://www.heidelbergmaterials.com http://www.linde-gas.de http://www.basf.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering July 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering July 2023
