Howard S. Meyer

The Study of Separation of Nitrogen from Methane by Hydrate Formation Using a Novel Apparatusa

The primary motivation for this research is the development of a process for the separation of nitrogen from methane from subspecification natural gas of which there are substantial deposits. However, the fundamental data that are necessary for process development involve information on hydrate formation, melting, and transportation that is currently not available. There are also two additional important areas in which this type of information can be useful. One deals with the problem of controlling hydrate formation in pipelines involved in off-shore natural gas production and transportation where the cost of control of hydrate formation constitutes a substantial expense. The other important problem is the utilization of the vast resource of methane, a clean fuel, in hydrate deposits that have been discovered in recent years amounting to an energy equivalent of more than the total coal and oil reserves of the world.

Nanovalved Adsorbents for CH4 Storage

A novel concept of utilizing nanoporous coatings as effective nanovalves on microporous adsorbents was developed for high capacity natural gas storage at low storage pressure. The work reported here for the first time presents the concept of nanovalved adsorbents capable of sealing high pressure CH4 inside the adsorbents and storing it at low pressure. Traditional natural gas storage tanks are thick and heavy, which makes them expensive to manufacture and highly energy-consuming to carry around. Our design uses unique adsorbent pellets with nanoscale pores surrounded by a coating that functions as a valve to help manage the pressure of the gas and facilitate more efficient storage and transportation. We expect this new concept will result in a lighter, more affordable product with increased storage capacity. The nanovalved adsorbent concept demonstrated here can be potentially extended for the storage of other important gas molecules targeted for diverse relevant functional applications.