NSF-BSF and Manufacturing USA: Lattice Oxygen Assisted Methane Activation for Modular Production of Fischer-Tropsch Ready Syngas

Natural gas which consists mainly of methane is commercially used to produce hydrogen and liquid fuels by converting it first to a synthetic gas. Although very significant efforts have been devoted to the catalyst and process development for producing synthetic gas, a number of key challenges need to be addressed. This research aims to investigate a unique family of catalysts that, expected to provide scientific and ultimately technical solutions to those key challenges. The proposed new catalysts have the potential to be robust, active, and highly efficient for methane conversion. The project will be carried out jointly by the North Carolina State University (Pl: Dr. Fanxing Li) and the Blechner Center for Industrial Catalysis at the Ben—Gurion University (PIS: Drs. Moti Herskowitz and Miron Landau).

The proposed research will develop in—depth understanding of the proposed catalysts for methane conversion to synthetic gas. Development of more effective catalysts can improve the economics and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from methane based hydrogen, liquid fuel, or chemical synthesis processes. Preliminary data showed promising performance. Further improvements in the catalyst performance and modular reactor design can lead to complete proof—of—concept, readying the technology for scale—up and commercialization. The modular system is particularly suited to convert stranded natural gas, which is often subject to flaring. Efficient conversion of this wasted natural resource can lead to significant reduction in greenhouse gas emission (v.s. flaring) and generate significant economic benefit.