Description:
Reference #: 01423
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for Structurally tunable highly stable PtNiCeSi based catalysts methane reforming
Background:
Municipal Solid Waste generation in the USA is EPA estimated at 250 million tons. with almost thirty percent of it going uncollected. Waste treatments include landfills, recycling, and energy recovery facilities. Because of the presence of organic content in the landfilled waste, landfill gas and leachate are generated by microorganisms in the process of breaking down this waste. Almost half of the composition of landfill gas contains methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is very efficient at capturing radiation, resulting in an impact on climate change which is 20 times greater than Carbon Dioxide. Simultaneously, Methane is also a useful alternative energy source, which results in the popularity of using landfill gas to energy processes which provide power while also reducing methane emissions. These conversions produce synthesis gas, a composition of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and some carbon dioxide. Dry reforming of methane is a viable option for preforming this process. However, the reaction is performed at high temperatures, which requires high energy consumption. Additionally, the active metals can be sintered, and carbon can be generated at this harsh condition which deactivates the catalysts.
Invention Description:
A new catalyst has been developed to convert landfill gas and biogas (carbon dioxide and methane) into synthesis gas directly from landfills and biomass waste. The catalyst is designed to be operated at mild reaction temperature and has been shown to have high efficiency and long stability. The unique yolk-shell structure of the catalyst provides excellent CO2 conversion activity and long catalyst lifetime under dry reforming of methane. The unique catalyst design can stabilize the active metal components in the catalyst and prevents catalyst deactivation. The catalyst does not suffer from coke formation and sintering and has a longer operating time for dry reforming of methane. The successful development of the current invention can make the use of dry reforming of methane from biogas and minimize the operating cost.
Potential Applications:
The successful development of the current invention opens possibilities to apply dry reforming of methane to utilize landfill gas and biogas. Additionally, the invention can also be applied to many catalytic processes that have suffered catalyst deactivation through coke formation.
Advantages and Benefits:
To date, there has not been any dry reforming of methane technology commercially available in the United States and the technology has not been applied to any landfill gas and biogas utilization plants for direct conversion of carbon dioxide and methane.