Producing Synthetic Diesel from Natural Gas and Carbon Dioxide Using Nano-Structured Catalyst

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Producing Synthetic Diesel from Natural Gas and
Carbon Dioxide Using Nano-Structured Catalyst
Dr. Chester Wilson Institute for
Micromanufacturing Louisiana Tech
University Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Three Current Energy Challenges in Our Country

• The United States consumes 25 of the worlds
  oil, but produces 4.
• Oil imports are roughly half our trade deficit. A
  substantial part of that money funds terrorism.
• Cap and Trade. The expansion of our industrial
  base requires energy. Traditional electricity
  sources produce carbon dioxide, emissions are
  likely to become restricted.

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What Will Fuel Americas Transportation?

• Electric cars? Current battery capacity,
  technology lacks.
• Natural Gas cars? No manufacturing/distribution
  system.
• Hydrogen cars? No current way to store hydrogen,
  or make it.

Challenges are Also Opportunities!

• Plenty of transportation/freight trucks on the
  road today use diesel.

• What if we can make synthetic diesel from
  domestic energy sources like natural gas, coal
  and biomass? What if we could also use this to
  lower the carbon footprint?

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Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Diesel

• WWI Petroleum embargo forced Germany to find a
  new source of diesel. 1923 Franz Fischer and Hans
  Tropsch discovered a way of making synthetic
  diesel and jet fuel from coal. 1944 124,000
  barrels of diesel per day from coal.

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Fischer-Tropsch Chemistry
(a)
(b)
(c)
CO
H2O
H2
catalyst
catalyst
catalyst

• Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are heated,
• pressurized, and flowed to the catalyst
• (b) Hydrogen and carbon stick to the catalyst,
• water diffuses away
• (c) Hydrocarbon chains form - diesel

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Catalyst Material Comparison

• Iron, cobalt are best practical catalysts

Iron Cobalt
Cost 0.20/ton 250/kg
Productivity lower higher
Water-gas shift significant negligible
sulfur resistance 0.2ppm 0.1ppm
Active oxide yes, Fe2O3 no, Co3O4
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Catalyst Material Comparison

• Iron, cobalt are best practical catalysts

Iron Cobalt
Cost 0.20/ton 250/kg
Productivity lower higher
Water-gas shift significant negligible
sulfur resistance 0.2ppm 0.1ppm
Active oxide yes, Fe2O3 no, Co3O4

• Cobalt is more expensive.

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Catalyst Material Comparison

• Iron, cobalt are best practical catalysts

Iron Cobalt
Cost 0.20/ton 250/kg
Productivity lower higher
Water-gas shift significant negligible
sulfur resistance 0.2ppm 0.1ppm
Active oxide yes, Fe2O3 no, Co3O4

• Cobalt is more expensive.
• But cobalt makes more diesel.

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Catalyst Material Comparison

• Iron, cobalt are best practical catalysts

Iron Cobalt
Cost 0.20/ton 250/kg
Productivity lower higher
Water-gas shift significant negligible
sulfur resistance 0.2ppm 0.1ppm
Active oxide yes, Fe2O3 no, Co3O4

• Cobalt is more expensive.
• But cobalt makes more diesel.
• But if you foul the cobalt, no more diesel.

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Current Nanostructured Catalyst vs. Our Nanowire
Catalyst

• Nanotube

• Nanowire

• Fast process (minutes)
• Open structure does not encourage molecular
  stagnation
• Single crystal no oxidization

• Slow process (hours)
• Prone to clogging via waxes and coking
• Very difficult to refurbish

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Hydrocarbon Distribution
94 of product is diesel Industrial iron
catalysts 35
18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
C6-C10 Gasoline C10-C20 Diesel C30 Wax
Percent of Total Product
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
22 24
Hydrocarbon Number
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Clean Coal Electricity
One large source of hydrogen and carbon monoxide
is clean coal gasification. But this also
produces carbon dioxide.
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Carbon Dioxide Utilization
What we have found is similar nanostructured
catalyst in nickel breaks down carbon dioxide and
natural gas to carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Two
stage reactors produce diesel where 30 of the
carbon is from greenhouse gases.
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Small Scale Reactor
Economic testbed reactor being constructed at
Louisiana Tech. Funded by the Department of
Energy.
Heater tubes
Reactor tubes
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Scales of Testing

• Technology has been licensed by Carbon Capture
  Energy Technologies
• Startup company out of Ruston
• Seeking to construct a turnkey system at the
  Hanesville fields.

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Thank You.Questions?
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(No Transcript)
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Solution Nanostructuring

• High surface area to volume ratio
• More reactions from less catalyst
• Lower fabrication cost from less material

• High Crystallinity
• Resistance to oxidation
• Resistance to sulfur contamination

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Fabrication Cobalt Nanotubes

• Template Wetting
• (a)/(b) Cobalt salt is deposited into pores
• (c) Salt and water begin evaporating
• (d) Cobalt is left behind, coating pores

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
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Fabrication Cobalt Nanowires
-

• Magnetically-enhanced electrodeposition
• Cobalt is electrodeposited into alumina pores
• Neodymium-Iron-Boron magnet constricts deposition

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Cobalt Problems

• Cobalt oxidizes through grain boundaries (crystal
  structure defects)
• Cobalt is less resistant to sulfur contamination
  than iron
• Cobalt costs too much for bulk manufacture

Grain Boundaries
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Microscale Reactor

• Provides real-time test data of hydrocarbon
  distribution
• Can test multiple catalysts simultaneously
• Easy to manufacture (simple lithography, etching)
• Inexpensive to manufacture and test
• Determines what to test in the Small-Scale Reactor

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Microreactor Design
Catalyst Channels
Cobalt Nanostructures
Metal -on-glass lithography
Alumina- on-chrome heater
1cm
5 µm
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Heater Capacity
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Summary

• Synthetic diesel is pollution free
• More sources than petroleum
• Iron catalysts are not economically viable
• Microreactors allow rapid testing
• Cobalt is practical as electrodeposited nanowire
• Durable
• Inexpensive
• Higher productivity than industrial catalysts

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Carbon Capture Synthetic FuelsIDEA PitchJohn
M RolloDavid VealsAdvised by Dr. Chester
Wilson and John McDonald

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Societal Problems

1) US dependence on foreign oil
2) CO2 pollution
How do we profit from this? Coal plants will pay
us to take their waste CO2 , combine it with
cheap domestic natural gas to produce and sell
LOTS of diesel fuel

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• Other Alternatives
• Electric Hydrogen vehicles
• Biofuels
• Direct competition
• Sasol Coal to syngas to diesel
• Shell - Oxidized methane to syngas to diesel

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• Our Solution
• Create synthesis gas from CO2 and CH4
• for stock to produce diesel fuels
• Dr. Chester Wilsons IP
• Nickel catalyst with plasma cleaning
• Nanostructured GTL Cobalt catalyst

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Design Specifics Pilot System Target of 1 L/day
Breakdown reactor - Furnace in a quartz
tube - Nickel Catalyst Fischer Tropsch GTL
Reactor - 20 linear ft plug flow reactor -
Cobalt Catalyst

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Fischer-Tropsch Process

• Carbon-containing feedstock (coal, natural gas,
  landfill gas, biomass)
• Solid feedstocks are gasified (heating in steam)
• Resulting syngas fed into reactor
• Catalyst reacts the syngas to produce synthetic
  diesel

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• Carbon Capture
• Synthesis yields net CONSUMPTION of CO2
• Ability to utilize CO2 from nearly any source
• Capture Utilize industrial pollution
• Allows industry growth

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Economics Our process converts 1000 f of NG
(3.30) into about 2.6 gal of diesel
(7.02) US Department of Energy National
Science Foundation grants are providing research
development costs Estimated DOE subsidies
1.60/gallon

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• Market
• 1,417 Coal-fired generators in the US
• Produce 2 lbs CO2 per kW/h
• About 1.8 billion metric tons per year
• Over 7 billion barrels of proven natural gas
  reserves in the US
• Diesel consumed?

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• Conclusion
• Domestically produced fuels
• Unique carbon-capturing synthesis
• LA Tech IP yields efficiency improvement over
  existing technology
• Questions?

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Natural Gas, a Domestic Resource
T. Boone Pickens is currently communicating a
vision to America. Develop wind power to produce
electricity, replacing natural gas generators, so
the natural gas can be used to power cars. The
plan is a refreshing path to American energy
independence, but there are some challenges on
implementation of natural gas as an auto fuel
Challenge 1 There exists little infrastructure
to distribute compressed natural gas at service
stations. Challenge 2 There are few mass
produced natural gas powered cars.

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Conversion of Natural Gas to Diesel
Fischer-Tropsch conversion of syngas (molecular
hydrogen and carbon monoxide) produced from
woodchips, coal, or natural gas into diesel is
well known, and currently commercialized to a
limited extent. To become economical, most of
these facilities are large. Carbon Capture
Energy Technologies has developed or shared use
agreements on several new technologies to reduce
the size of an economic facility. We have use
agreements for nanostructured catalysts that
increase the surface reactivity, and a new
reactor technology that allows enhanced syngas
production by combining impure natural gas and
carbon dioxide. This syngas is then Fischer
Tropsch converted to diesel.

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Current Problems with Clean Coal Technology
Coal is amazingly abundant in North America, and
a critical component to electricity
production. Many advances in technology have
minimized the environmental impact of coal
generation. Sulfur and ash reduction techniques
are working, acid rain is something we dont hear
about anymore. One problem not yet well
addressed is carbon dioxide production, which is
heavily produced in this process, and is the most
common greenhouse gas. We do hear about that in
the news.

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Carbon Dioxide Sequestering and Carbon Credits
One possible solution is carbon dioxide
sequestering, pumping the carbon dioxide back
into the ground. This is losing ground
politically, and both political parties are
advocating some form of carbon cap a limit to
the CO2 production. This would make carbon
credits very expensive, but appears needed to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As our diesel
production process using natural gas consumes
CO2, our company would receive revenues by
integration into these coal gasification
unitseven before the diesel was sold.

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Small Scale Wood and Waste Gasification Units
The new farm bill is offering 1.01 subsidization
for cellulose based fuel. Carbon Capture Energy
Technologies has proprietary wood and waste
gasification technology that focuses on smaller,
mobile units with flexible combustion chambers
that can utilize landfill waste. This landfill
waste can be converted into syngas that can
replace natural gas as a way to heat livestock
facilities.

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies
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Corporate Officers
CARBON CAPTURE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES Dr. Sam
Dauzat, President Dr. Chester Wilson, VP
Technology John McDonald, VP Operations Contac
t Information svdauzat_at_latech.edu 318.257.3446

Carbon Capture Energy Technologies