RAPID

The intensified process fundamentals focus area includes activities and projects relevant to crosscutting unit operations relevant to intensified and modular processes. These unit operations include efficient chemical separations, chemical reactor design and catalysis, mixing, and heat transfer. The efforts in this focus area center around platform technologies that can be used in multiple realizations in varying applications of modular processing.

Vision

To foster the development of new chemical processes intensified through fundamental process R&D

Objectives

• Transform separations and/or reactions applications into modular intensified chemical processes requiring less capital, operating costs and energy consumption for energy intensive processes
• Develop fundamental technologies and hierarchical multiscale, multifunctional materials to enable intensification and/or modularization of a separation, reaction or hybrid systems
• Create scale out technologies for use of alternative energy forms (microwaves, plasmas, electrocatalytic processes)
• Advance inherently low energy separation processes (e.g., adsorption/membranes) and energy efficient reaction platforms
• Develop fundamentals for multifunctional modules, including hybrid separation/reaction schemes that utilize adsorption and membrane processes, reactor/heat exchangers and mixers, and temporally coupled systems

Key Approaches

• Facilitate interactions between industrial, academic and government facilities to capitalize on resources from bench to pilot to full scale operations
• Develop and successfully integrate process intensification and modularization fundamentals into existing large scale chemical processes and emerging distributed and remote applications
• Utilize state-of-the-art experimental facilities and exceptional modeling proficiencies at all length scales to bolster process intensification fundamentals applied to reaction and separation

Expected Outcomes

• Multiscale modeling tools to design intensified reaction, adsorption, membrane and hybrid processes and associated materials
• Scale out methodologies for multifunctional process including use of alternative energy forms and design principles for multifunctional materials that enable modularization and process intensification
• Integration of intensified adsorption, membrane, reaction and/or hybrid processes in a modular fashion within the large scale chemical and petrochemical process industries
• Development of intensified adsorption, membrane, reaction and/or hybrid processes for distributed, modular applications