Solvent Delivery and Waste Handling Systems

NREL is engaged in a design/build project for a pilot scale plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system for producing high surface area silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) funded by NREL General Purpose Investment and DOE in both applied (EERE-VTO) and fundamental science (SC/BES-CSGB) offices. These Si NPs are useful as active materials in anodes for lithium-ion batteries and in photochemical conversion of light energy to fuels and chemicals. NREL has a decade of experience in growing, handling and manipulating these Si NPs at small scale (<10 g), and the new pilot production PECVD system is capable of synthesizing 1 kg per day. Processing this large quantity of Si NPs requires large amounts of solvent and generates significant liquid waste. For example, one process requires 60 L each toluene and hexanes per kg of Si NPs and other processes require ~10 L of toxic and corrosive solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP). Manual handling of this volume of solvent is potentially hazardous and time-consuming. Therefore, NREL requires new, partially automated equipment to handle and deliver chemicals at pilot-scale levels. This project will provide two dual-drum solvent dispense cabinets (for a total of four solvents), two remote dispense stations delivering solvent from the cabinets to point-of-use locations, a waste collection cabinet, and a portable waste pump cart that, together, provide adequate controls to allow the safe and expedient wet chemical processing of Si NPs at the kg-scale. Amendment 1: Extends due date for submitting technical questions to 6/16/23. Amendment 2: Q&A's. Published 6/20/23.