Plasma-Catalysis of CO2 and CH4 to Produce High Value Chemicals

Dry methane reforming consumes heat and converts two greenhouse gases- methane, carbon dioxide- to produce syngas, a valuable product used in preparation of liquid fuels and other chemicals such as methanol, acetyls (acetic acid), formaldehyde, formic acid, and dimethyl ether etc. The syngas market is expected to reach more than $70 billion dollars in 2022. The commercial implementation of Dry Methane Reforming to produce syngas is impeded due to technical and cost issues. Here we aim to further develop plasma-catalytic dry reforming technology from our current phase II project. While traditional steam methane reforming and dry methane reforming are conducted at high temperatures (700–900 °C) burning fossil fuels for heat, plasma assisted dry methane reforming can be conducted at lower temperatures (300–500 °C) using waste heat and renewable energy. During the Phase II of current project, we made significant progress in achieving higher thermal efficiencies and methane-carbon dioxide conversions through technical efforts and industrial collaborations, compared to state-of-art plasma reforming technology. Our plasma-catalysis studies point to possibilities of improvements in efficiency to better than break-even levels, through better electrode configurations, plasma power supply, catalysts, and process development. Plasma can help in coke removal from the catalysts. Process analysis points towards the need for development of plasma reforming technology at higher pressures (5-10 atm). During Phase IIA of this proposal, we propose to conduct more studies in these directions to further improve this technology towards commercialization. During Phase IIA, our efforts will focus on study of: (1) Catalyst decoking using plasma; (2) Advanced catalysts obtained from BASF, commercial sources, and in-house prepared for better plasma- catalysis synergy, conversion levels, thermal efficiency; (3) Novel design of electrode configurations and plasma discharge forms; (4) Design and study high pressure plasma reforming reactor (1-5 atm); (5) Design of a commercial reactor; (6) Process analysis for commercialization. For commercialization, we seek two commercialization opportunities: (1) Licensing our plasma decoking technology for the DMR process. Potential customers include BASF and Linde. (2) Licensing our plasma-assisted DMR process as a modular process attached to a primary process with CO2 emissions, such as SMR. Potential customers include Air Liquide and Linde.