Reference number : GC-2017-Q1-03370, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Kirk, Donald (University of Toronto), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Ontario, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Discovery Grants Program - Individual, program name french : Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles, program purpose english : This proposal will develop a new market-disruptive technology involving carbon dioxide utilization. The technology is both economic and can be operated at an industrial scale. The reaction involves an unique electrochemical pathway for coupling carbon dioxide to glycerol. Known chemical pathways require high temperature and pressure and have low yields of glycerol carbonate. This new pathway operates at ambient conditions. The electrochemical coupling reaction was discovered in early 2016 and verified with sufficient laboratory work to initiate a university disclosure and a university led US provisional patent application in Aug 2016. 
Both glycerol and carbon dioxide have limited economic value but their combination as glycerol carbonate increases their value 5 fold and opens the door to the production of a range of new green polymers since glycerol carbonate and its derivatives are readily polymerized. Glycerol itself is a by-product of biodiesel which is a green, non-fossil fuel derived product from oils and fats. Unfortunately due to the growing dominance of biodiesel, the glycerol supply has oversaturated the market. Thus this coupling reaction will divert the oversupply of glycerol and convert captured carbon dioxide into a new set of environmentally friendly products. 
The current proposal is focused on determning the mechanistic details of the reaction and determining the optimum conditions for conducting the conversion process. In parallel, a project on developing the scale-up process will be taking place and is described in the Other Research Support section. While carbon dioxide and glycerol have been selected because of the clear economic opportunity for commercialization, the research will also determine the breadth of new reactions that can be initiated through this electrochemical synthesis route. 
Annual US Biodiesel production is currently about 8 billion litres and is expected to be 132 billion litres by 2022 [18]. In Ontario, Biox will have capacity to produce 118 million litres/annum. Glycerol is produced as a byproduct of the biodiesel production at about 10 wt %. These crude glycerol supplies are currently trading at about ($0.24/kg). By upgrading to glycerol carbonate, a value of $3-4/kg bulk commodity price can be obtained. Producing glycerol carbonate using the novel electrochemical reaction has very low cost and will be a market disruptive technology., program purpose french : This proposal will develop a new market-disruptive technology involving carbon dioxide utilization. The technology is both economic and can be operated at an industrial scale. The reaction involves an unique electrochemical pathway for coupling carbon dioxide to glycerol. Known chemical pathways require high temperature and pressure and have low yields of glycerol carbonate. This new pathway operates at ambient conditions. The electrochemical coupling reaction was discovered in early 2016 and verified with sufficient laboratory work to initiate a university disclosure and a university led US provisional patent application in Aug 2016. 
Both glycerol and carbon dioxide have limited economic value but their combination as glycerol carbonate increases their value 5 fold and opens the door to the production of a range of new green polymers since glycerol carbonate and its derivatives are readily polymerized. Glycerol itself is a by-product of biodiesel which is a green, non-fossil fuel derived product from oils and fats. Unfortunately due to the growing dominance of biodiesel, the glycerol supply has oversaturated the market. Thus this coupling reaction will divert the oversupply of glycerol and convert captured carbon dioxide into a new set of environmentally friendly products. 
The current proposal is focused on determning the mechanistic details of the reaction and determining the optimum conditions for conducting the conversion process. In parallel, a project on developing the scale-up process will be taking place and is described in the Other Research Support section. While carbon dioxide and glycerol have been selected because of the clear economic opportunity for commercialization, the research will also determine the breadth of new reactions that can be initiated through this electrochemical synthesis route. 
Annual US Biodiesel production is currently about 8 billion litres and is expected to be 132 billion litres by 2022 [18]. In Ontario, Biox will have capacity to produce 118 million litres/annum. Glycerol is produced as a byproduct of the biodiesel production at about 10 wt %. These crude glycerol supplies are currently trading at about ($0.24/kg). By upgrading to glycerol carbonate, a value of $3-4/kg bulk commodity price can be obtained. Producing glycerol carbonate using the novel electrochemical reaction has very low cost and will be a market disruptive technology., agreement title english : Interfacial Electro-technology for Low Carbon Footprint Biodiesel, agreement title french : Interfacial Electro-technology for Low Carbon Footprint Biodiesel, agreement number : RGPIN, agreement value : 24000.0, agreement start date : 2017-05-10, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019), additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2018-2019), owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada