Products of catalytic oxidative coupling of methane to improve thermal efficiency in natural gas engines
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03 NATURAL GAS↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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PROPPANT-BEARING NATURAL GAS FOAM FOR WATER REDUCTION IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATIONS
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Shale gas: Geochemical and physical constraints on genesis, storage, and producibility
Our research project on shale gas included two tasks: (1) Testing of different shales’ ability to geocatalytically generate natural gas at low temperatures; verification of geocatalytic methanogenesis would potentially render shale gas a quasi-renewable resource, and (2) quantification and characterization of porosity and permeability in organic-rich rocks with implication for producibility. Adequate porosity is required for geological storage of shale gas. At the same time, pore connectivity is essential for gas producibility.
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Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Natural Gas
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are high temperature energy conversion devices that produce electricity efficiently and sustainably. High operating temperatures required for SOFC function endow these devices with many advantages including fuel flexibility and high conversion efficiencies. Fuel flexibility, in particular, distinguishes SOFCs from other types of fuel cells that operate with clean H 2 only, and enables operation with natural gas (NG). LBNL has developed metal supported SOFCs (MS-SOFCs) with unique symmetrical architecture that offer several advantages over state of the art (SoA) ceramic SOFC models including inexpensive materials, rapid start up capability, increased mechanical strength and high tolerance to thermal cycling, Fig 1. These advantages make LBNL MS-SOFCs uniquely suited for fast start-up, portable, and mobile backup generator applications. Specifically motivating this work was a scenario of backup generators fueled by pipeline natural gas delivered from SoCalGas in the event of an electric grid shut down. This project investigates the feasibility of using MS-SOFCs with pre-reformed natural gas as well as direct on-cell reforming of simulated natural gas both with and without sulfur.
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The Hidden Flexibility of the Natural Gas Network for Electric Power Operations: A Case Study of a Near-Miss Winter Event
The U.S. power sector has become increasingly reliant on gas pipeline networks to deliver fuel to natural gas power plants. In addition to supplying relatively low-cost fuel, gas networks offer generators flexibility in their operations through the ability to deliver fuel when needed by using gas storage facilities or linepack if the gas network is at an operating point below its design capacity. However, disruptions or stress events on the gas network - like those occurring in the Northeast and Texas in recent years - can result in limitations on gas availability to generators at times when generation is in short supply. Here we examine a period of stress that occurred in the winter of 2022 in the Western United States. Using data on the region's natural gas pipeline network and electric generators, we build an integrated gas and electric model that closely replicates the actual dispatch of the period. We then evaluate the implications of removing flexibility employed by the gas network operator, which during that period curtailed scheduled gas deliveries to other parties to increase deliveries to natural gas power plants, which requested more gas than initially forecasted. We find that without the flexibility supplied by the gas network operator, there would have been curtailment of gas generation due to gas offtake constraints, requiring the power system operator to redispatch relying on more expensive generation or to potentially shed load. A sensitivity exploring a wind drought further exacerbates the strain, illustrating the potential challenge of managing gas and grid interactions as systems move to higher shares of variable renewable electricity. Based on this example, we discuss potential coordination strategies between the two system operators to ensure that the power system can successfully utilize and rely on the flexibility offered by natural gas networks.
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LNG Tanker, 150,000 to 180,000 m 3 Capacity, Operations
This unit process includes operation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) ocean tanker. The tanker is fueled by boil-off natural gas, with other supplemental fuel, based on Wartsila 50DF engine specifications.
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Reducing Methane Emissions with an Engine Fuel Reformer
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) designed and demonstrated a compact, plasma-based fuel reformer designed to reduce methane leaks from natural-gas engines used in pipeline compression and industrial power applications. The system uses pulsed electrical discharges to convert a small portion of methane (CH4) into hydrogen (H2) and light hydrocarbons, promoting more complete combustion and reducing unburned methane in the exhaust. The reformer was evaluated through bench-scale testing, high-flow facility testing, and engine-integration testing on representative low-speed and high-speed natural-gas engines. Measured methane-leak reductions ranged from 1 to 27 percent, depending on engine type and operating condition, while reformer energy consumption remained below one percent of total engine output. Design refinements addressed thermal and electrical challenges, resulting in reliable operation with minimal impact on engine control systems. The project achieved all performance objectives within budget and schedule, produced a patentable pulsed-power system design, and established a scalable, energy-efficient pathway for mitigating methane leaks from existing natural-gas engine infrastructure.
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Full Scale Natural Gas Compressor Loop Testing with Blended Hydrogen
Summary of Phase 1 work
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Bimetallic-Derived Catalytic Structures for CO 2 -Assisted Ethane Activation
In recent years, the simultaneous upgrading of CO 2 and ethane has emerged as a promising approach for generating valuable gaseous (CO, H 2 , and ethylene) and liquid (aromatics and C 3 oxygenates) chemicals from the greenhouse gas CO 2 and large-reserved shale gas. The key challenges for controlling product selectivity lie in the selective C-H and C-C bond cleavage of ethane with the assistance of CO 2 . Bimetallic-derived catalysts likely undergo alloying or oxygen-induced segregation under reaction conditions, thus providing diverse types of interfacial sites, e.g., metal/support (M/M'O x ) interface and metal oxide/metal (M'O x /M) inverse interface, that are beneficial for selective CO 2 -assisted ethane upgrading. The alloying extent can be initially predicted by cohesive energy and atomic radius (or Wigner-Seitz radius), while the preference for segregation to form the on-top suboxide can be approximated using the work function, electronegativity, and binding strength of adsorbed oxygen. Furthermore, bimetallic-derived catalysts are typically supported on high surface area oxides. Modifying the reducibility and acidity/basicity of the oxide supports and introducing surface defects facilitate CO 2 activation and oxygen supplies for ethane activation. Using in situ synchrotron characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we found that the electronic properties of oxygen species influence the selective cleavage of C-H/C-C bonds in ethane, with electron-deficient oxygen over the metal (or alloy) surface promoting nonselective bond scission to produce syngas and electron-enriched oxygen over the metal oxide/metal interface enhancing selective C-H scission to yield ethylene. Here, we further demonstrate that the preferred structures of the catalyst surfaces, either alloy surfaces or metal oxide/metal inverse interfaces, can be controlled through the appropriate choice of metal combinations and their atomic ratios. Through a comprehensive comparison of experimental results and DFT calculations, the selectivity of C-C/C-H bond scission is correlated with the thermodynamically favorable bimetallic-derived structures (i.e., alloy surfaces or metal oxide/metal inverse interfaces) under reaction conditions over a wide range of bimetallic catalysts. These findings not only offer structural and mechanistic insights into bimetallic-derived catalysts but also provide design principles for selective catalysts for CO 2 -assisted activation of ethane and other light alkanes. This Account concludes by discussing challenges and opportunities in designing advanced bimetallic-derived catalysts, incorporating new reaction chemistries for other products, employing precise synthesis strategies for well-defined structures with optimized site densities, and leveraging time/spatial/energy-resolved in situ spectroscopy/scattering/microscopy techniques for comprehensive structural analysis. The research methodologies established here are helpful for the investigation of dynamic alloy and interfacial structures and should inspire more efforts toward the simultaneous upgrading of CO 2 and shale gas.
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Extending the Operating Envelope for an Extremely Low NOx Axial Stage Combustion System
The overall goal of this program is to develop a low NOx combustion system which enables a gas turbine combined cycle efficiency of > 65%. The proposed combustion system is a combination of three advanced technologies under development by the Recipient: advanced transition design, the Distributed Combustion System (DCS), and advanced head end. Of note is that the DCS and advanced transition were initially developed with DOE funding under previous Cooperative Agreements. The continued development of these designs has resulted in a proof of concept design which was successfully tested in the Recipient’s state-of-the-art high-pressure rig. The initial rig testing indicated a substantial benefit with respect to high firing temperature operation as well as low NOx operation for the advanced transition and the DCS. Even lower NOx and higher firing temperatures are possible with the addition of the advanced head end to the design. Potential hurdles to the combustion design have been identified, such as high pressure drop and acoustics. The goal of this program is to develop variations of this design which address these hurdles and create an optimized design for implementation into the Recipient’s new high efficiency gas turbine engine.
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Direct Conversion of Shale Gas Alkanes to Commodity Chemicals
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Isolated Single Metal Atoms Supported on Silica for One Step Non-Oxidative Methane Upgrading to Hydrogen and Value-Added Hydrocarbons
Natural gas in the United States offers substantial economic opportunities due to its abundance but its transportation is challenging because its primary component, methane (CH 4 ), does not liquefy at ambient temperature and typical pressures. As a result, a significant portion of natural gas is either used for heat, flared in remote locations, or remains unutilized, presenting a lost economic opportunity and an environmental harm. Converting natural gas to larger hydrocarbons in an economically competitive manner would enable transportation of products and further boost the economy and reduce environmental footprint. Our research goal is to enable efficient non-oxidative methane conversion (NMC) via catalyst innovation to convert CH 4 in one-step to olefins and aromatics and hydrogen (H 2 ) co-product. The catalysts are made of supported single metal atoms and operated at medium-high temperatures. The single metal atoms achieve methane activation by heterogeneous surface dehydrogenation to generate a hydrocarbon pool and importantly limit coke formation. The integration of novel single atom catalysts in a short contact time microreactor enable unprecedented NMC performance that could lead to economically-feasible, distributed natural gas upgrading by advanced manufacturing and process intensification. Our innovated catalyst and reactor technology promise to tap into previously uneconomic natural gas resources, such as stranded, vented, and flared methane.
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Front-End Engineering Design Study for Retrofit Post-Combustion Carbon Capture on a Natural Gas Combined Cycle Power Plant
The objective of the project is to conduct a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study to determine the technical and economic feasibility of installing a retrofit, post-combustion, carbon capture facility on a commercially operating, natural gas-fired, combined cycle (NGCC) power plant. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), California Resources Corporation (CRC), and Fluor Corporation used Fluor's Econamine FG Plus SM (EFG+) conducted the FEED study for capturing CO 2 produced by CRC's 550 MWe Elk Hills Power Plant (EHPP), located in the Elk Hills Oil Field near Tupman, Kern County, California. The EHPP was commissioned in 2003 and is powered by two General Electric 7FA gas turbines, with two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) providing steam to a General Electric D11 steam turbine. The target capture amount is 4,000 tonnes CO 2 /day for use in either enhanced oil recovery or dedicated geological saline storage located on CRC property at or nearby EHPP. This CO 2 is captured from a combination of the CO 2 emitted from the flue gas from EHPP and the flue gas generated from a natural gas-fired auxiliary boiler that supplies steam to the EFG+ process.
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Chevron Natural Gas Carbon Capture Technology Testing Project (Final Technical Report)
The objective of this project was to design, construct, commission, and operate an engineering scale post combustion carbon capture system to validate the technical maturity, operability, and scalability of Svante’s VeloxoTherm™ solid sorbent carbon capture technology under representative flue gas conditions. The project was executed at Chevron’s Kern River oil field in the San Joaquin Valley of California and evaluated carbon capture performance using slipstream flue gas from natural gas fired once through steam generators (OTSG), including indicative coal and natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) operating scenarios.
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Natural Gas - Electric Interface Study
In this presentation, the authors share an overview of the natural gas-electric interface study, why it was started, an overview of existing and proposed approaches so far, a description of the proposed coordination framework, and a case study for Colorado's electricity and natural gas system.
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Understanding Your Utility Bills: Natural Gas
As a fossil fuel NG is a colorless and odorless gas in its natural state and is one of the cleanest burning hydrocarbons. The factors that contribute to the popularity of natural gas in the US manufacturing sector include ease of availability, clean burning properties, market deregulation, and increased domestic production. Analyzing natural gas (NG) bills can sometimes pose unique problems. Learning to read your utility bills and understand why your utility charges different fees is critical in maximizing your cost savings through energy efficiency. A key to creating a baseline is collecting and analyzing natural gas utility data. Historical data from NG bills can identify trends and help to find the baseline usage for a manufacturing operation. This guide intends to help Better Plant Program partners in understanding natural gas bills and analyzing usage to reduce costs. The guide focuses on natural gas production and transportation, understanding key charges on bills, different rate structures, and saving opportunities. A fictitious worked out example in the final section demonstrates how readers could go about analyzing natural gas bills.
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Local-Scale Framework for Techno-Economic Analysis of Subsurface Hydrogen Storage
The energy sector is evolving toward increased reliance on renewable energy technologies to meet state, national, and organization decarbonization goals. This trend is creating challenges and opportunities with meeting current and future energy demand under the variable supply conditions that most renewables provide. Hydrogen (H 2 ) is a promising energy carrier that may meet the need for both on-demand and long-duration storage to maintain energy security and resilience. Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) is a method of storing H 2 in subsurface geological systems, such as depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, salt caverns, saline aquifers, hard rock, and other engineered systems. UHS has the potential to store large quantities of H 2 over time, providing a reliable source of energy while minimizing surface footprints at a lower investment cost compared to surface storage. Earlier work estimated that, if converted and retrofitted, existing underground natural gas storage (UGS) facilities in the U.S. can store approximately 327 TWh, or 9.8 million metric tons, of pure H 2 . However, a shift to pure H 2 would decrease the collective working-gas energy of the UGS facilities by approximately 75% due to physical and chemical differences between natural gas and hydrogen. The same work also suggests that almost 75% of the existing UGS facilities in the U.S. could maintain current energy demand buffering using a blend of only 20% H 2 to 80% natural gas, by volume at surface conditions. If we can take advantage of the suite of mature technologies of existing UGS facilities and natural gas utility systems to accelerate the transition to a hydrogen economy in the U.S., a 20% H 2 blend could lead to a 6-7% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for energy delivered through natural gas utility systems.
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Abstract for CRADA between NETL and Hope Gas, Inc.
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Hope Gas (PARTICIPANT) will collaborate in field demonstrations of NETL-developed methane quantification and mitigation technologies, including pipeline sensors and pipeline protection materials to mitigate methane emissions. Hope Gas will also provide access to gathering pipelines and other facilities for an NETL team to perform methane emission field survey.
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