Seth W. Snyder’s research while affiliated with Northwestern University and other places

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Publications (71)


A perspective on broad deployment of hydrogen-fueled vehicles for ground freight transportation with a comparison to electric vehicles
  • Article

November 2024

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1 Read

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1 Citation

Energy Strategy Reviews

Yang Shi

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Zhehao Qiu

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Seth W. Snyder

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Yixiao Wang

Unraveling the Potential of Electrochemical pH-Swing Processes for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization
  • Literature Review
  • Full-text available

December 2023

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82 Reads

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9 Citations

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research

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Seth W Snyder

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[...]

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Global warming, driven by the accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, in the atmosphere, has garnered significant attention due to its detrimental environmental impacts. To combat this critical issue, the deployment of CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) strategies has been considered as one of the technology-based solutions, leading to extensive scientific and engineering research. Electrochemical pH-swing (EPS) processes offer a promising approach to diverse CCU pathways, such as the delivery of pure CO2 gas, the delivery of bicarbonate (e.g., for microalgae cultivation), and the formation of carbonate minerals. In this study, we discuss several CCU pathways using EPS and provide an in-depth analysis of its mechanisms and potential applications, outlining its limitations from both thermodynamic and kinetic standpoints. The EPS process has demonstrated remarkable capabilities, achieving a CO2 capture efficiency of over 90% and unlocking valuable opportunities for CCU applications. We also develop an initial techno-economic assessment and provide the perspectives and challenges for future development and deployment of EPS. This study sheds light on the integration of EPS with CCU, closing the carbon cycle by effectively utilizing the products generated through the process, such as carbonate minerals and bicarbonate solution. For instance, the bicarbonate product can serve as a viable feedstock for bicarbonate-based microalgae production systems, with the added benefit of reducing costs by 40–80% compared to traditional gaseous CO2 delivery approaches. By integration of electrochemical technologies with CCU methods, this study underscores the immense potential for mitigating CO2 emissions and advancing sustainable practices to combat global warming. This study not only addresses the urgent need for effective solutions but also paves the way for a greener and more sustainable future.

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Carbon Capture: Theoretical Guidelines for Activated Carbon-Based CO 2 Adsorption Material Evaluation

November 2023

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17 Reads

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3 Citations

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Activated carbon (AC)-based materials have shown promising performance in carbon capture, offering low cost and sustainable sourcing from abundant natural resources. Despite ACs growing as a new class of materials, theoretical guidelines for evaluating their viability in carbon capture are a crucial research gap. We address this gap by developing a hierarchical guideline, based on fundamental gas–solid interaction strength, that underpins the success and scalability of AC-based materials. The most critical performance indicator is the CO2 adsorption energy, where an optimal range (−0.41 eV) ensures efficiency between adsorption and desorption. Additionally, we consider thermal stability and defect sensitivity to ensure consistent performance under varying conditions. Further, selectivity and capacity play significant roles due to external variables such as partial pressure of CO2 and other ambient air gases (N2, H2O, O2), bridging the gap between theory and reality. We provide actionable examples by narrowing our options to methylamine- and pyridine-grafted graphene.


Life cycle assessment for sustainable ethylene synthesis via electrochemical CO2 reduction

Depleting fossil fuels and changing global climate have led researchers to explore a sustainable and green ethylene synthesis towards carbon neutrality. Electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction reaction via renewable energy (eCO2RR) has emerged as a promising green synthesis method for reducing ethylene production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The study developed a N-aryldihydropyridine-based oligomer-modified Cu (Cu-12) catalyst to achieve high faradaic efficiency for ethylene (C2H4) in a neutral or low alkaline environment (0.1 M aqueous KHCO3). The C2H4 faradaic efficiency (FE) of Cu-12 in the membrane-electrode assembly is 40% higher than on the Cu catalyst under similar conditions. Moreover, the study reported higher selectivity and higher current density than previously reported for C2H4 in neutral conditions. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted to evaluate the sustainability of the system. The LCA results showed the potential of eCO2RR assembly to reduce carbon emissions compared to fossil-based ethylene synthesis. The study selected electricity utilities as the critical hotspot of environmental impact, accounting for more than 70% of the total impacts. The results demonstrate the technical and environmental feasibility of the eCO2RR assembly, which can support the circular economy, sustainable development goals, and green chemistry principles.


我们可以从能源行业的脱碳中学到什么?

June 2023

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24 Reads

The water sector is in the middle of a paradigm shift from focusing on treatment and meeting discharge permit limits to integrated operation that also enables a circular water economy via water reuse, resource recovery, and system level planning and operation. While the sector has gone through different stages of such revolution, from improving energy efficiency to recovering renewable energy and resources, when it comes to the next step of achieving carbon neutrality or negative emission, it falls behind other infrastructure sectors such as energy and transportation. The water sector carries tremendous potential to decarbonize, from technological advancements, to operational optimization, to policy and behavioural changes. This book aims to fill an important gap for different stakeholders to gain knowledge and skills in this area and equip the water community to further decarbonize the industry and build a carbon-free society and economy. The book goes beyond technology overviews, rather it aims to provide a system level blueprint for decarbonization. It can be a reference book and textbook for graduate students, researchers, practitioners, consultants and policy makers, and it will provide practical guidance for stakeholders to analyse and implement decarbonization measures in their professions. English edition available https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/843/Pathways-to-Water-Sector-Decarbonization-Carbon


A partial CO2ER pathway indicating major reactions process (Hori et al., 1994; 1997; Peterson et al., 2010; Kuhl et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2015; Kortlever et al., 2015; Montoya et al., 2015; Feaster et al., 2017; Chernyshova et al., 2018; Garza et al., 2018; Lum et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2019; Nitopi et al., 2019). Mechanisms that play a critical role in the production on C2+ products via CO2ER on Cu-based catalysts along with strategies used to enhance them are specifically highlighted. These strategies can be implemented in a Cu-based MOF system; the chemically tunable active sites along with additional advantages of a MOF template for catalysis highlights the ability of Cu-based MOFs to produce C2+ products via CO2ER.
Integrated carbon capture and conversion: A review on C2+ product mechanisms and mechanism-guided strategies

February 2023

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77 Reads

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9 Citations

The need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations necessitates CO2 capture technologies for conversion into stable products or long-term storage. A single pot solution that simultaneously captures and converts CO2 could minimize additional costs and energy demands associated with CO2 transport, compression, and transient storage. While a variety of reduction products exist, currently, only conversion to C2+ products including ethanol and ethylene are economically advantageous. Cu-based catalysts have the best-known performance for CO2 electroreduction to C2+ products. Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are touted for their carbon capture capacity. Thus, integrated Cu-based MOFs could be an ideal candidate for the one-pot capture and conversion. In this paper, we review Cu-based MOFs and MOF derivatives that have been used to synthesize C2+ products with the objective of understanding the mechanisms that enable synergistic capture and conversion. Furthermore, we discuss strategies based on the mechanistic insights that can be used to further enhance production. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges hindering widespread use of Cu-based MOFs and MOF derivatives along with possible solutions to overcome the challenges.



Catalytic Processes to Accelerate Decarbonization in a Net‐Zero Carbon World

November 2022

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201 Reads

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19 Citations

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of the critical challenges to mitigate global climate change, which is having detrimental impacts on society and the environment. Fossil fuel combustion in transportation, power generation, and industrial processes is the dominant contributor to carbon emissions. Over the past decades, sustainable solutions and strategies have been investigated and developed to enable decarbonization. Catalysis plays an essential role to address this global challenge by increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, capturing carbon dioxide, and utilizing clean energy sources to displace fossil fuels. In this Review, the role of catalysis in reducing energy demand was discussed, enhancing process efficiency, displacing carbon‐intensive feedstocks and products, and therefore, reducing carbon emissions. Recent advances in catalyst development were summarized, focusing on applications to enhance industrial processes efficiency and enable utilization of clean energy sources. Emerging approaches in catalysis were reviewed, including the manufacture of iron and steel, direct air capture of CO2, production of ethylene, ammonia, and sustainable aviation fuels, plastic recycling, and the synthesis of biobased plastics. The Review was concluded with suggested research directions to achieve a carbon net‐zero world.


Principles of the Battery Data Genome

October 2022

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303 Reads

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58 Citations

Joule

Batteries are central to modern society. They are no longer just a convenience but a critical enabler of the transition to a resilient, low-carbon economy. Battery development capabilities are provided by communities spanning materials discovery, battery chemistry and electrochemistry, cell and pack design, scale-up, manufacturing, and deployments. Despite their relative maturity, data-science practices among these diverse groups are far behind the state of the art in other fields, which have demonstrated an ability to significantly improve innovation and economic impact. The negative consequences of the present paradigm include incremental improvements but few breakthroughs, significant manufacturing uncertainties, and cascading investment risks that collectively slow deployments. The primary roadblock to a battery-data-science renaissance is the requirement for large amounts of high-quality data, which are not available in the current fragmented ecosystem. Here, we identify gaps and propose principles that enable the solution by building a robust community of data hubs with standardized practices and flexible sharing options that will seed advanced tools spanning innovation to deployment. Precedents are offered that demonstrate that both public good and immense economic gains will arise from sharing valuable battery data. The proposed Battery Data Genome looks to broadly transform innovations and revolutionize their translation from research to societal impact.


Pathways to a net-zero-carbon water sector through energy- extracting wastewater technologies

September 2022

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1,576 Reads

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70 Citations

npj Clean Water

The energy-consuming and carbon-intensive wastewater treatment plants could become significant energy producers and recycled organic and metallic material generators, thereby contributing to broad sustainable development goals, the circular economy, and the water-energy-sanitation-food-carbon nexus. This review provides an overview of the waste(water)-based energy-extracting technologies, their engineering performance, techno-economic feasibility, and environmental benefits. Here, we propose four crucial strategies to achieve net-zero carbon along with energy sufficiency in the water sector, including (1) improvement in process energy efficiency; (2) maximizing on-site renewable capacities and biogas upgrading; (3) harvesting energy from treated effluent; (4) a new paradigm for decentralized water-energy supply units. npj Clean Water (2022) 5:49 ; https://doi.


Citations (45)


... [8][9][10] Therefore, facile control over both the capture and release of CO 2 is desirable. Release of CO 2 from the absorbents is often achieved by pH-, [11] temperature-, [12,13] moisture, [14,15] and pressure-swing. [16,17] The concept of CO 2 release with light has also been explored recently. ...

Reference:

Evaluation of Aliphatic Alcohols for CO2 Capture Using the Characteristic Carbonate Frequency
Unraveling the Potential of Electrochemical pH-Swing Processes for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research

... 89 Modeling of binding energetics of polymers is a complex endeavor, and numerous contributions to the binding energy may be modeled with DFT including long-range polymeric effects in addition to energetics of bond formation. 90 Herein, we focus on the chemical contribution of the active site to the binding energy. Dry conditions for CO 2 sorption primarily lead to ammonium carbamate formation. ...

Carbon Capture: Theoretical Guidelines for Activated Carbon-Based CO 2 Adsorption Material Evaluation
  • Citing Article
  • November 2023

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

... Such a biorefinery would require the capture of CO 2 from anaerobic and aerobic fermentations, the technology for which exists today [54]. Processes for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to carbon-carbon products, including methanol, ethylene, and ethanol are also being advanced [55][56][57]. Recent developments in the generation of synthetic fuels and other chemicals such as dimethyl esters, synthetic natural gas, synthetic gasoline, synthetic diesel, and synthetic aviation fuel from H 2 , CO 2 , and other gases have been reviewed by others [58]. The possibility to produce urea directly by coupling N 2 and CO 2 in H 2 O under ambient conditions using an electrocatalyst has also been demonstrated [59]. ...

Integrated carbon capture and conversion: A review on C2+ product mechanisms and mechanism-guided strategies

... By pooling resources and data, industries and researchers can improve the generalizability of AI models. Examples include open-source platforms such as the Battery Data Genome, which aims to collect and share high-quality battery datasets for use by researchers worldwide [144,145]. ...

Principles of the Battery Data Genome
  • Citing Article
  • January 2023

Joule

... The integration of CCS with hydrogen production presents synergistic opportunities, offering significant benefits but also facing challenges [86]. We will explore these aspects in detail: ...

Catalytic Processes to Accelerate Decarbonization in a Net‐Zero Carbon World

... Recognizing this as a work in progress, we invite the battery community to participate-by suggesting terms and alterations in the ontology or by contributing to the cell database. Creating such structured data demands initial effort and ongoing maintenance, but it can evolve into a collaborative endeavour that benefits the entire community [28]. ...

Principles of the Battery Data Genome
  • Citing Article
  • October 2022

Joule

... Wastewater is expected to grow by 50% by 2050. It contains five times more energy than what is required to treat it, yet more than 80% of it is untreated [165]. Full nutri-ent recovery can satisfy 6.8% of the global phosphorus demand, 14.4% of nitrogen, and 18.6% of potassium, bring 13.6 billion USD investment returns, and power 239 million households [166]. ...

Pathways to a net-zero-carbon water sector through energy- extracting wastewater technologies

npj Clean Water

... The water industry is estimated to account for 2.1% in the US and 0.8% in the EU of the total electricity consumption [148]. Around 23 MMT CO 2e was generated during electricity consumption, which accounts for 37.7% of the entire CO 2e release in the water industry [149]. Aeration, pumping, and heating are the main energy consumers in WWTPs [149]. ...

What can we learn from decarbonization of the energy sector?

... Illegal use as an ingredient [43] and the accessibility of generics [44], which are sold without a proper prescription, resulted in leakage into the water environment. Recently, Kim's group reported that the concentrations of SD in local sewage treatment plants before and after purification were alarmingly high, especially on weekends [45]. Moreover, the results showed that the efficiency of biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems-the modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE; anoxic/oxic) and the A 2 /O (anaerobic/anoxic/oxic) processes-for the elimination of SD was alarmingly low. ...

Contribution of sewage to occurrence of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors in natural water

... The investigation into all criteria covered by different standards revealed that some sub-criteria are significantly important in all standards above. Concerning ecological criterion, energy, water, waste, material, and environment indicators and concerning the social criterion, only user comfort, health, and satisfaction indicators have the highest importance; whereas, the economic criterion is not included in this group, and economic sub-criteria are considered only by few countries [70][71][72][73][74]. These criteria and sub-criteria were weighed and normalized for each model and assessment to make them comparable. ...

The role of peer review and science for advancing public understanding

Water-Energy Nexus