Microwave Catalytic Gasification of Mixed plastics and Corn Stover for Clean Hydrogen Production
For presentation at the AICHE Fall 2023 National Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 5-10, 2023.
Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Muley, Pranjali.
For presentation at the AICHE Fall 2023 National Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 5-10, 2023.
NETL and H2 Resources Pty Ltd. will collaborate under this CRADA project to evaluate and design a scaled-up microwave assisted coal gasification process on Australian low-rank coal. This project will include parametric studies on the top size of feed coal using continuous feed microwave capabilities at NETL.
Poster for the Tri-State Catalysis Club Symposium, Morgantown, WV, September 1, 2023.
For presentation at the International Microwave Power Institute Annual Symposium, Denver, CO, June 27-30, 2023.
Presentation at the International Microwave Power Institute Annual Symposium, Denver, CO, June 27-30, 2023.
For presentation at the 28th North American Catalysis Society Meeting held in Providence, RI, June 18-23, 2023.
Rapid development of new ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis techniques that enable modular, intermittent production is essential to actualizing NH 3 's potential as a clean energy carrier, since contemporary methods are configured to centralized, continuous production methods with high emissions and are incompatible with renewable sources. Here, in this mission, microwave-driven catalysis is promising for its ability to enhance reaction kinetics and apply targeted heating for efficient energy use. However, owing to an incomplete understanding of the interaction between microwave fields and catalyst beds, the development of such microwave-catalysis systems remains underexplored and challenging. This paper investigates the 10× scale-up of a microwave-based NH 3 synthesis reactor using numerical and experimental approaches, achieving the largest reported microwave-driven NH 3 reactor to date. Results elucidate phenomena unique to microwave processes that are only predictable through numerical modeling, including how a catalyst's dielectric properties influence microwave field distribution by affecting penetration depth and how energy utilization can be poor even with sufficient attenuation. These dynamics change with scale, constrain reactor geometry, and potentially hamper performance. Nonetheless, we demonstrate a production rate of 56.6 g NH$_3$ per day, the highest reported NH 3 synthesis rate for laboratory-scale alternative techniques; correspondingly, the benchmark energy efficiency achieved in this paper (45.6 g NH$_3$ kW h -1 ) is the highest reported for such reactors of sufficient scale. Even with this exemplary energy efficiency, energy losses were found in excess of 50%, an issue resolvable through scale and reactor design. The efficiencies imparted by microwaves were key in these achievements, warranting further investigation toward development of microwave-driven NH 3 systems.
Co-gasification of waste plastic and corn stover into hydrogen is an effective way of reducing hydrogen cost and carbon footprint. However, current gasification technologies are energy intensive and cannot accommodate flexible feedstock. Microwave gasification offers several advantages including higher H 2 yield and enhanced selectivity to syngas over tars. Herein this work presents parametric optimization study of microwave co-gasification of mixed plastics and corn stover for hydrogen-rich syngas. High hydrogen yields of 30.5 mmol H2 /g feed at 700 °C were obtained using a microwave reactor, as opposed to 0.9 mmolH 2 /g feed at 700-950 °C with conventional heating. Hydrogen yields are >98% of the theoretical extractable hydrogen from feedstock. Microwaves enhanced plastic and corn stover synergy and reduced tar yields. H-poor carbon formation resulting from the dehydrogenation of tar and coke, and light olefins decomposition, triggered by the external microwave electric fields, allowed further cracking of intermediate hydrocarbons to produce additional H 2 .
2022 AIChE Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, November 15-19, 2022
ACS Fall Meeting 2022, Chicago, IL, August 21-25, 2022
The conversion of methane into aromatics with microwaves has the potential to be developed into a modular process for associated natural gas flaring reduction. Microwaves provide advantages of rapid, selective heating of heterogenous catalyst systems, but the heating is non-homogeneous. This body of work is a study performed by NETL researchers to evaluate the effect of silicon carbide as a microwave susceptor with a benchmark Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst to provide uniform bed heating and improved benzene yields. We demonstrate microwave can provide more efficient benzene production than a conventionally heated system.
56th Annual Microwave Power Symposium (IMPI 56), Savannah, GA, June 14-16, 2022
The presentation was delivered from work performed in NETL's Upcycling of Associated Natural Gas FWP Task 4 Benzene, Toluene, Xylene Synthesis via Microwave-assisted catalyst. The objective of this project is to develop a modular, microwave-assisted reactor to upcycle flare gas into valuable chemicals. The presentation discusses important work researchers have performed to compare the pre-treatment of a benchmark Mo/ZSM-5 catalyst under microwaves to traditional thermal heating. Pre-treatment is required to enable to catalyst to produce benzene. This study provided insights into how the exposure impacts the structure and activity of the catalyst and will be used to help design better catalysts.
A keynote presentation delivered at 26th Canadian Catalysis Symposium virtually on microwave work at NETL.
This document summarizes NETL's microwave catalysis work.
This work is a summary of atomic level catalyst design on a Mo/HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst to determine the formation of Mo carbide species during exposure of CO and CH4. We also look at specific features of the activated form of the catalyst including charge distributions, bond orders, and polarizations that might be susceptible during MW irradiation.
The poster presentation discusses the results of the parametric study for the direct conversion of methane into aromatics over a zeolite catalyst under microwave irradiation. The study presents results demonstrating the effects of temperature, flow rate, and methane concentration.
AIChE: 3rd Natural Gas Utilization Workshop, Virtual, April 24-25, 2021