How to Transform the Chemical Industry -- One Reaction at a Time | Miguel A. Modestino | TED
44,957 views ・ 2022-09-12
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翻译人员: Shuhui Huang
校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung
00:04
I was born and raised
in Caracas, Venezuela,
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我是在上世纪 80 到 90 年代期间,
00:06
back in the '80s and '90s.
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在委内瑞拉的加拉加斯
出生并长大的。
00:07
Venezuela is a beautiful country,
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委内瑞拉是一个很美的国家,
00:09
rich with natural treasures
from beaches to rainforests.
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从海滩到雨林都充满了
丰富的自然财富。
00:13
But one thing that people
don't quite realize
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但有一件不太引人注目的事,
00:15
is that we also have
really tall mountains.
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就是我们也有很多高山。
00:17
These are part of the Andes,
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这些是安第斯山脉的一部分,
00:19
and they stretch all the way down
from Chile and Argentina.
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它们一直从智利延伸到阿根廷。
00:22
And they're also home to some
of the very few tropical glaciers
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它们也是这世界上
极少数热带冰川的家园。
00:25
in the world.
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00:26
Back in 1910, when the first
map was drawn,
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早在 1910 年,
当世界上第一张地图被画出来时,
00:28
Venezuela used to have
five tropical glaciers,
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委内瑞拉以前是有五个热带冰川的,
00:31
which we used to call
the five white eagles.
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我们称它们为五白鹰。
00:33
Today, unfortunately,
there's only one left,
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很可惜,
事到如今,只有一个还留存着,
00:36
and it covers an area which is smaller
than Central Park in New York City.
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而它覆盖的地方
比纽约的中央公园还要小。
00:40
These glaciers have been disappearing
because of the use of a resource
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这些冰川正在消失的原因是因为
一种能源的使用,
00:44
that we extract not too far from them:
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这种能源的提取地也离这些冰川不远:
00:46
oil.
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石油。
00:47
As a Venezuelan, my relationship
with oil is complicated.
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作为一个委内瑞拉人,
我对石油的情感很复杂。
00:51
On the one hand, oil is the resource
that helped my country develop,
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一方面,石油带动了我的国家
甚至人类文明蓬勃发展,
00:54
as well as human civilization.
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00:57
On the other hand,
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另一方面呢,
00:58
it's a resource that slowly but surely
fuels an existential threat.
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它又在缓慢而稳定地带领着我们
走向生存危机。
01:02
Climate change.
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气候变化。
01:04
We now know that to avert
the worst impacts of climate change,
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我们现在知道,
为了避免气候变化带来的最坏结果,
01:07
we're going to have to decarbonize
everything that we do
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我们将不得不对我们的所作所为
以及周围的一切
01:10
and everything that surrounds us.
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进行脱碳。
01:12
And to do that within
the next three decades.
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时间期限只有三十年。
01:14
These include things like
transitioning from oil, natural gas
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我们要做的,
包括从用石油和天然气
01:19
to clean sources of electricity;
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改为干净的电力资源;
01:21
electrifying all of our vehicles;
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把车都换成电动;
01:23
rethinking the way that we make
our buildings and cities.
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重新规划我们的房屋和城市。
01:27
The good news is that technologies to do
some of these things already exist.
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好消息是,完成这些事所需的科技,
我们已经有了一些。
01:31
And legislation to frame
and direct this effort
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制定和指导这项工作的立法
01:34
is starting to be put in place.
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也已经开始实施。
01:37
The bad news is that even
if we do all of these things,
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坏消息是,
即使我们做了以上所有这些;
01:40
it will still not be enough.
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还是不够。
01:42
There are still large sectors
of our economy
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我们经济中仍有很大一部分
需要脱碳,
01:44
that will need to be decarbonized
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01:46
for which we don't have
the technology yet.
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但我们还没有相关技术。
01:49
These include the things like
manufacturing processes
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其中包括用于
制造我们周围一切的制造工艺,
01:52
that are used to make everything
that surrounds us,
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01:55
from the cement and steel
that holds our buildings together
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从造房子用的钢筋水泥,
01:58
to the chemicals and materials
that we use to make the goods
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到用来制造日常生活用品的
化学品和材料。
02:02
that we use in our daily lives.
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02:04
Things like the chair
that you're sitting in,
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像你现在坐着的椅子,
02:06
your shoes, the cars that you use,
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你的鞋、车
02:10
and all the devices that we use every day.
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和所有我们每天都在用的设备。
02:14
The chemical manufacturing industry
alone accounts for 10 percent
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仅化学制造业
02:19
of the energy consumption.
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就占总能耗的 10%。
02:22
And 20 percent of the carbon
emissions from industry.
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而碳排放则占总体的 20%。
02:26
These emissions arise
from the use of fossil fuel combustion
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这些排放来自于化石燃料的燃烧,
因为我们要用其产生的热量
02:29
to generate the heat that is required
to drive processes inside of our old
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来驱动那些老旧低效的
化学工厂的内部工艺。
02:34
and inefficient chemical plants.
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02:36
One way to start fixing the issue
will be to use electricity
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解决方案之一,
就是用电力
02:40
instead of heat from fossil fuels
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来代替化石燃料的热能
02:42
to drive the processes
inside of these plants.
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来驱动这些工厂内部的流程。
02:44
Sounds easy enough, right?
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听起来简单吧?
02:45
Just unplug the natural gas pipelines,
plug in the electrical wire,
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不过就是是拆掉天然气管道,
接上电力管道
02:50
and make sure that you source electricity
from clean sources like solar,
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并保证你的电来自干净的能源,
比如太阳能,
02:54
wind or nuclear.
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风能或者核能。
02:56
Unfortunately, in reality,
it's much harder than that.
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很可惜在现实中,
要难得太多了。
02:58
We're going to have to come up
with new chemical reactions
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我们必须要想出一种新的化学反应
03:01
that can source their energy
directly from electricity.
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可以直接从电能获得能量。
03:05
These are called
electrochemical reactions.
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也就是,电化学反应。
03:08
And it’s what my research group
at New York University is focusing on:
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这也是我在纽约大学的研究组
目前的研究方向:
03:12
figuring out electrochemical paths
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找到可以直接关联
03:14
that can create direct links
between clean electricity and molecules.
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电能和物质分子之间的
电化学反应。
03:19
In electrochemical reactions,
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在电化学反应中,
03:21
heat is replaced by electricity
as an energy source.
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电力将取代热能,作为能量源。
03:24
This allows us to operate reactors
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这使我们能够在室温下
03:27
and carry out reactions
at room temperature
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在把能量损失减少到最小的同时
03:30
with minimal energy losses.
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操作反应堆。
03:33
But the problem is
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但问题是,
03:34
that for electrochemical reactions
to become viable,
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为了让电化学反应的方案可行,
03:37
they will need to be more efficient
and cost competitive
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它们得比我们现在用的热驱动反应
03:40
than the heat-powered ones
that we use today.
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更高效还得更便宜。
03:43
That means that electrochemical reactors
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也就是说,那些电化学反应堆
03:45
will need to transform
raw materials into products
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将原材料变为化合物的时候,
03:50
very efficiently, with minimal waste
and very selectively.
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需要有选择性、高效
且把浪费控制在最低水平。
03:56
This will then in turn incentivize
chemical manufacturers
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这个会带动化工厂
03:59
to switch to electrochemical
production processes
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来转换成电化学的生产过程,
04:02
instead of deploying
new fossil fuel chemical plants.
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而不是去置办新的化石燃料工厂。
04:10
In our research, we started
by looking at a chemical reaction
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在我们的研究中,
我们首先研究了一种化学反应,
04:13
that is used to make one of the most
important polymers in the world:
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它被用于制造
世界上最重要的聚合物之一——
04:16
Nylon 66.
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尼龙 66 。
04:18
More than 5 million tons
of all kinds of nylons
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每年都有超过
五百万吨的各类尼龙被生产出来。
04:21
are produced every year.
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04:23
And out of those, two million
tons are of Nylon 66.
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而这其中,有两百万吨都是
这个尼龙 66 。
04:27
And these are used to make things
like the textile fibers
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这些尼龙都被用来制造一些,
04:30
that we use in our winter jackets
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例如在冬季夹克中使用的纺织纤维
04:32
or the plastic car parts
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或是让车子变得更轻从而省油的
04:34
that help make our vehicles
lightweight and fuel-efficient.
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一些塑料配件。
04:39
Through our research,
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经过研究,
04:40
we managed to identify
electrochemical reaction mixtures
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我们成功找到了正确的添加物和电压
04:44
with the right additives and voltages
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来让电化学反应堆
04:46
to be able to transform raw materials
into nylon precursors very selectively.
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将原材料有选择性地
转化为尼龙的前身。
04:51
We achieved selectivity
of more than 80 percent,
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我们实现了超过 80% 的选择性,
04:54
a value that is on par
with commercial reactors.
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与商业反应堆旗鼓相当。
04:56
But we didn't stop there.
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但我们并没有知足。
04:58
While most electrochemical
reactions operate
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虽然大多数电化学反应
05:01
with a constant stream
of electrical currents,
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都是在恒定的电流下进行的,
05:04
we knew that if we control
the interactions
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但我们知道,
如果能控制好
05:07
between the electricity
input and molecules,
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电力输入和分子之间的相互作用,
05:09
we could achieve a higher performance.
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我们还能再把性能提升上去。
05:13
To do that, we decided to start exploring
different electrical pulses
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为此,我们决定开始
尝试不同的电脉冲,
05:17
in the search for the right pulse sequence
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为了找到一个
能以分子反应的相同速率传递电子的
05:20
that will deliver electrons
at the same rate
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05:22
that molecules could react.
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正确脉冲序列。
05:25
Since there were so many pulses
that we needed to test,
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需要测试的脉冲数量巨大,
05:28
we decided to then use
a few number of results
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所以我们决定用一部分
05:31
from different pulses to train
machine-learning models
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不同脉冲的测试结果
来训练一个机器学习模型,
05:34
that then help us identify
the appropriate pulse sequence
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来找到适合这个反应的脉冲序列。
05:38
for this reaction.
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05:39
This was the first time
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这是第一次
05:41
that artificial intelligence was used
to optimize an electrochemical reaction,
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人工智能被用来优化电化学反应,
05:45
and the pulse sequence that we discovered
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而且我们找到的这个脉冲序列
05:47
allows us to increase by 30 percent
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使这个反应堆的生产率
提高了 30% 。
05:49
the production rate of these reactors.
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05:51
These large improvements in efficiency,
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这些效率、选择性和生产率的
巨大提升非常重要,
05:54
selectivity and production rates
are very important
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05:57
because they will ensure
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因为它们保证了
05:58
that electrochemical reactions
are competitive
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电化学反应能够和
已高度优化的化石燃料动力反应竞争。
06:01
with fossil-fuel-powered ones
which are already highly optimized.
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06:05
But hey, nylon is only one molecule
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不过啊,尼龙只是成千上万的化学品
所组成的汪洋大海中的一滴水。
06:07
in a network of tens of thousands
of chemical products,
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06:11
many of which you see in this diagram,
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在这张图表上你可以看出来,
06:13
and many of which are a common
occurrence in your daily lives.
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而且这很多都是
我们日常生活中会用的东西。
06:16
Just think of the plastics that are used
to make your computers and phones,
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你电脑和手机里那些个塑料配件,
06:19
or the pane that covers
the walls around us,
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覆盖我们周围墙壁的窗格,
06:22
or the medicines that help us
live a healthy life.
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或是让我们健康生活的药品。
06:25
We're going to have to decarbonize it all
within the next 30 years.
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我们需要在接下来的三十年内,
把这些全都脱碳。
06:29
That means that we're going
to have to discover,
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也就是说,
我们得以比上世纪更快的速度
06:32
develop and deploy
chemical processes much faster
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去发现、开发和落实这些化学工艺。
06:35
than we did in the past century.
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06:39
To that end, my group at NYU
is combining artificial intelligence
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为此,我在纽约大学的研究组结合了
06:44
with autonomous research tools
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人工智能和自主研究工具,
06:47
to run hundreds to thousands
of experiments per day.
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每天可以跑成百上千个实验。
06:50
In this way, we hope to decrease
the time from idea to discovery
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我们希望这样可以减少至少一百倍
从想法产生到找到结果的时间。
06:55
by more than 100 times.
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06:58
Beyond nylon,
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除了尼龙,
06:59
we're also looking
into production processes
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我们还在探索
其他化学品的生产工艺,
07:02
to manufacture other chemicals
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07:04
like ethylene and propylene.
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比如乙烯和丙烯。
07:06
These are the main precursors
to most of the plastic in the world.
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这些是世界上大多数塑料的主要前身。
07:10
Through electrochemistry,
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通过电化学,
07:11
we have managed to electrify already
the most energy intensive steps
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我们已经实现将化学品生产工艺中
07:16
on the production process
of these chemicals:
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最耗能的步骤实现电力供能了:
07:19
a set of processes that alone account
for a very substantial amount of energy
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是在化学生产行业里,单独使用
就相当耗能的工艺。
07:22
in the chemical manufacturing industry.
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07:25
We're also rethinking the way
that we make our chemicals
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同时,我们也在开发
用食物残渣代替石油
07:28
and the chemicals supply chain,
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07:29
by developing new processes
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制造化学品的新型工艺,
07:31
that can use and transform
food waste into the chemicals
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来反思我们制造化学品
和化学品供应链的方式。
07:35
that we make today from oil.
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07:37
This can be done by extracting
molecules from waste streams
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这可以通过从废物流中提取分子
07:41
and using them as precursors
to things like plastics,
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并将它们用作塑料、添加剂、
07:46
additives, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals,
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化妆品和药品等物质的前身来完成。
07:48
and many more.
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07:50
And in this way,
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这样我们就能
07:51
enhancing sustainability in chemical
manufacture even further.
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进一步加强
化学品制造业的可持续性。
07:55
The chemical industry is central
to our modern economy
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化学工业是我们现代经济
和生活方式的核心。
07:58
and to our ways of life.
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08:00
Decarbonizing it will take us
several decades.
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整个产业的脱碳
会需要几十年的努力。
08:02
This will include things like
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其中包括
08:05
retrofitting our chemical plants
so they can use electricity directly,
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把化工厂改造成可以直接电力供能、
08:09
capturing and sequestering CO2
as it comes out of the gas flue stacks,
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捕获和隔离
从废气烟囱出来的二氧化碳,
08:13
and more importantly,
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还有更重要的一点,
08:14
developing new chemical processes
that are more efficient
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开发更高效的、
可以直接用绿色电力的
08:18
and can source electricity
directly from clean sources.
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新型化学工艺。
08:22
By accelerating research
in electrochemical manufacturing,
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通过加速电化学制造的研究,
08:24
my team aims to develop
some of these reactions
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我的团队旨在开发其中的一些反应
08:27
and in this way help to transform
the chemical industry
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来帮助化学工业转型,
每次一个化学反应。
08:30
one reaction at a time.
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08:32
When we get there,
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当我们完成目标时,
08:33
we will have been able to erase
the carbon footprint
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我们就可以消除整个化学工业的
碳足迹了。
08:36
of the chemical industry.
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08:38
And while we won't be able to bring
our tropical glaciers back,
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虽然我们没法让热带冰川
变回原样了,
08:41
we will have helped to develop
a sustainable path
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但我们可以为地球的未来
08:43
for the future of our planet.
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开辟一条可持续的道路。
08:44
Thank you.
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谢谢。
08:46
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
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