| May 07, 2013 | |
New mechanism converts natural gas to energy faster, captures CO2 |
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| (Nanowerk News) Chemical engineering researchers have identified a new mechanism to convert natural gas into energy up to 70 times faster, while effectively capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). | |
| “This could make power generation from natural gas both cleaner and more efficient,” says Fanxing Li, co-author of a paper on the research ("Iron Oxide with Facilitated O2– Transport for Facile Fuel Oxidation and CO2 Capture in a Chemical Looping Scheme") and an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University. | |
| At issue is a process called chemical looping, in which a solid, oxygen-laden material – called an “oxygen carrier” – is put in contact with natural gas. The oxygen atoms in the oxygen carrier interact with the natural gas, causing combustion that produces energy. | |
| Previous state-of-the-art oxygen carriers were made from a composite of inert ceramic material and metal oxides. But Li’s team has developed a new type of oxygen carrier that include a “mixed ionic-electronic conductor,” which effectively shuttles oxygen atoms into the natural gas very efficiently – making the chemical looping combustion process as much as 70 times faster. This mixed conductor material is held in a nanoscale matrix with an iron oxide – otherwise known as rust. The rust serves as a source of oxygen for the mixed conductor to shuttle out into the natural gas. | |
| In addition to energy, the combustion process produces water vapor and CO2. By condensing out the water vapor, researchers are able to create a stream of concentrated CO2 to be capture for sequestration. | |
| Because the new oxygen carrier combusts natural gas so much more quickly than previous chemical looping technologies, it makes smaller chemical looping reactors more economically feasible – since they would allow users to create the same amount of energy with a smaller system. | |
| “Improving this process hopefully moves us closer to commercial applications that use chemical looping, which would help us limit greenhouse gas emissions,” Li says. |
| Source: North Carolina State University | |
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