Emma Palo

Catalytic Activity of Ceo2 Supported Pt-ni and Pt-co Catalysts in the Low Temperature Bio-ethanol Steam Reforming

Low temperature bio-ethanol steam reforming (ESR) can be considered a promising method to produce H2, owing the increase of thermal efficiency and reduction of capital costs. However, some detrimental effects such as lower H2 selectivity and catalyst deactivation can occur, making crucial the catalysts selection. The aim of this work is to study bimetallic Pt based catalysts for the low temperature ESR reaction in concentrated reaction mixture. Preliminary results concerning economic aspects are also reported.

Waste-to-methanol: Process and economics assessment

The waste-to-methanol (WtM) process and related economics are assessed to evidence that WtM is a valuable solution both from economic, strategic and environmental perspectives. Bio-methanol from Refuse-derived-fuels (RdF) has an estimated cost of production of about 110€/t for a new WtM 300t/d plant. With respect to waste-to-energy (WtE) approach, this solution allows various advantages. In considering the average market cost of methanol and the premium as biofuel, the WtM approach results in a ROI (Return of Investment) of about 29%, e.g. a payback time of about 4years. In a hybrid scheme of integration with an existing methanol plant from natural gas, the cost of production becomes a profit even without considering the cap for bio-methanol production. The WtM process allows to produce methanol with about 40% and 30-35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with respect to methanol production from fossil fuels and bio-resources, respectively.

Catalytic Partial Oxidation Coupled with Membrane Purification to Improve Resource and Energy Efficiency in Syngas Production

Catalytic partial oxidation coupled with membrane purification is a new process scheme to improve resource and energy efficiency in a well-established and large scale-process like syngas production. Experimentation in a semi industrial-scale unit (20 Nm(3)  h(-1) production) shows that a novel syngas production scheme based on a pre-reforming stage followed by a membrane for hydrogen separation, a catalytic partial oxidation step, and a further step of syngas purification by membrane allows the oxygen-to-carbon ratio to be decreased while maintaining levels of feed conversion. For a total feed conversion of 40 %, for example, the integrated novel architecture reduces oxygen consumption by over 50 %, with thus a corresponding improvement in resource efficiency and an improved energy efficiency and economics, these factors largely depending on the air separation stage used to produce pure oxygen.

Natural Gas Catalytic Partial Oxidation: A Way to Syngas and Bulk Chemicals Production

© 2012 Iaquaniello et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Natural Gas Catalytic Partial Oxidation: A Way to Syngas and Bulk Chemicals Production

Compact Multi-fuel Autothermal Reforming Catalytic Reactor for H2 Production

Distributed hydrogen production to feed fuel cells needs compact and versatile reforming system: ATR reaction assures compactness and process self-sustainability. The aim of this work is to realize and test a thermally integrated catalytic reactor able to realize the ATR of gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons. Heat recovery from reaction products for pre-heating of reactants allows to feed reactants at room temperature. Preliminary experimental results performed with the integrated multi-fuel reactor showed that the system is very fast to reach the steady conditions, with a very high thermal exchange efficiency, and a good approach to the equilibrium gas phase composition at the reactor outlet in terms of adiabatic temperature, hydrocarbon conversion and hydrogen production.

Palladium-based membranes for hydrogen separation: preparation, economic analysis and coupling with a water gas shift reactor

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the study of hydrogen selective membranes from an economic perspective. The first section provides an overview of the classification of membranes for hydrogen separation, while the second section describes their preparation technology in detail. Pd-based membranes are also examined, and the correct manufacturing strategy identified, with the aim of improving their industrial competitiveness by lowering production costs. The last section deals with the analysis of the water gas shift (WGS) reaction as a case study, and in particular its application downstream to a reforming step plant in order to reduce the CO content in the exhaust stream. Two possibilities of coupling a membrane with a water gas shift reactor (WGSR) are investigated: either as an open architecture, where hydrogen separation modules are located before and/or after the WGSR, or as an integral WGSR membrane reactor (closed architecture), where reaction and separation occur in a single step. After a literature review focusing on the use of membranes for hydrogen separation in the WGS reaction, the next section discusses the mathematical modeling of a WGS membrane reactor, comparing the performances of the two proposed configurations. The last part of the chapter focuses on a preliminary techno-economic analysis, comparing conventional technology with membrane assisted WGSR developed around open architecture.

Technical and Economical Evaluation of WGSR

The catalytic conversion of CO through the water–gas shift reaction (WGSR) is of great importance in many of today’s chemical industries, such as ammonia and methanol synthesis. One of the emerging new applications of the WGSR is pertinent to membrane-assisted Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) for clean energy or clean hydrogen production with zero CO2 emissions. The use of membrane reactors offers a significant advantage by lowering process intensity and reducing the cost of CO2 capture. The integration of IGCC with membrane technology could be realized either as an open architecture (OA) where hydrogen separation ceramic modules are located before and after the WGSR or as an integral WGSR membrane reactor (closed architecture (CA)) where reaction and separation happen in a single step. The first part discusses mathematical modelling of this more complex, but perhaps more efficient, integral WGSR membrane reactor. A techno-economic analysis comparing the conventional technology with membrane-assisted WGSR developed around OA, considered the first step towards commercial realization, is discussed in the second part of this chapter.

Reformer and Membrane Modules (RMM) for Methane Conversion Powered by a Nuclear Reactor

In the last few years, significant developments in membrane science and the vision of process intensification by multifunctional reactors have stimulated the academic and industrial research focused on membrane reactor application to chemical processes (Mendes et al., 2010, Dittmeyer et al., 2001, Basile et al., 2005a, De Falco et al., 2007). From these works, the increase of the reactants conversion above the equilibrium values appears to be possible when a reaction products at least is removed through the membrane. As stated in the following, the integration of selective membrane in a chemical process can be twofold:  directly inside the reaction environment (Integrated Membrane Reactor – IMR);  after the reaction step (Reaction and Membrane Module – RMM). In this chapter a methane steam reforming (MSR) RMM pre-industrial plant, designed and tested to investigate at an industrial scale level the plant performance, is presented. A major benefit of the proposed RMM configuration is the shift of steam reforming reactions chemical equilibrium by removing the hydrogen produced at high temperature, thanks to the integration of highly selective Pd-based membranes and enhancing the final product yield. By this way, the process can operate at a temperature as low as 600-650°C in comparison to 850-880°C needed in conventional plants, and enable the use of low temperature heat source as helium heated in a nuclear reactor. This chapter reports, firstly, membrane reactor concept, selective membrane typologies and integration strategies; then it discusses the experimental data gathered over 1000 hours of testing on an industrial pilot unit in terms of feed conversion at different operating parameters and elaborates such data in order to optimize the overall architecture, defining the maximum achievable feed conversion under different scenario of heat integration. Finally, a membrane reactor perspectives analysis, mainly focused on integration with nuclear reactors for steam reforming reactor heat duty supplying, is reported in order to understand which technical and economical targets have to be reached in the next future for a commercial diffusion. The plant discussed in this chapter, placed in Chieti Scalo (Italy), is characterized by a H2 design capacity of 20 Nm3/h and it operates with three Pd and Pd/Ag based membranes for

The effect of cation siting in Co,Ag-ferrierite on CH4-NOx-SCR

Abstract In this paper the relation between cation mobility and catalytic activity in lean SCR NO x by CH 4 on (Ag,Co)- and (Co,Ag)-FER have been studied by combining XRD Rietveld refinement in fresh and used catalysts with SCR catalytic testing performed in dry and wet conditions. UV-Vis DRS measurements were also performed. Maximum NO x dry conversion (40% at 500°C) in Co-FER is related to the temperature induced migration of Co 2+ ions into catalytically active Co2a sites. The irreversible loss of catalytic activity in the presence of water is partly suppressed by first exchanging Ag cations, resulting in different cation siting distribution and the reduced mobility of Co cations which are responsible for SCR activity and selectivity. In particular, we propose that with (Co,Ag)-FER(Co 4.6, Ag 0.2 wt%) the absence of Ag + in the Ag2 site could hinder Co migration to the Co2a site, and that of Ag 0 , which promotes the side oxidation of NO to NO 2 , together with an increase in the Co4 population being lost from Co2, could be responsible for preserving catalytic activity and selectivity.

Waste to Chemicals for a Circular Economy

The implementation of a circular economy is a fundamental step to create a greater and more sustainable future for a better use of resources and energy. Wastes and in particular municipal solid waste represent an untapped source of carbon (and hydrogen) to produce a large range of chemicals from methane to alcohols (as methanol or ethanol) or urea. The waste to chemical process and related economics are assessed in this concept article to show the validity of such solution both from an economic point of view and from an environmental perspective considering the sensible reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with respect to conventional production from fossil fuels.