350382 Kinetic and Thermodynamic Aspects for CO2 Conversion to Methanol via Trireforming

Monday, March 31, 2014: 2:00 PM
Jasperwood (Hilton New Orleans Riverside)
Tracy J. Benson1, Yishan Zhang1, Helen Lou1 and John Gossage2, (1)Dan F. Smith Department of Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, (2)Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX

Long term viability of the petroleum refinery sector must include a sustainable infrastructure whereby the triple bottom line – profit, people, and planet – is sought.  One such avenue is development of alternate strategies of CO2 conversion technologies, such as tri-reforming.  Tri-reforming is a combination of methane steam reforming, CO2 reforming, and methane oxidation that utilizes the steam and CO2 released from flue stack gases and converts to syngas (CO and H2).  Unlike typical sequestration technologies that require CO2 to be separated from steam before being pumped underground, tri-reforming avoids this expense by using the mixed CO2 and steam.  Conversion of carbon dioxide, if economically viable, extents our carbon resources and reduces our carbon footprint. 

            A thermodynamic analysis, along with a process simulation and optimization analysis, was conducted using Aspen simulation coupled to a General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), for the combined tri-reforming/methanol synthesis paradigm.  Model parameters for the tri-reformer included temperature (400 – 1,200°C), pressure (1 – 5 atm), and CH4/Flue gas ratio (0.4 – 1.0).  Results showed that high temperatures and low pressures favored high CO2 conversions with an optimum H2/CO = 2. Furthermore, an economic analysis demonstrated substantial profits when the endothermic tri-reforming process was coupled to the highly exothermic methanol synthesis process. 

            In an additional study, a novel catalyst has been developed for the tri-reforming reaction that uses reverse micelles to create nano-sized Transition metal reactive sites onto the surface of TiO2 anatase.  The anatase, which has oxygen vacancies within its lattice structure, was found to be not just a surface area providing support but an active component within the overall operability of the catalyst.  A kinetic evaluation and a time on stream analysis have shown to have better performance than a traditional steam methane reforming catalyst.  The overall study demonstrates a viable, sustainable method that has the potential of economically reducing pinpoint CO2 emissions. The complete catalyst development and kinetic evaluation, along with the Aspen simulation study, will be shown.


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See more of this Session: Gas Conversion Technologies I
See more of this Group/Topical: Topical 6: 14th Topical Conference on Gas Utilization