Professor Kwang-jin Ahn (center) and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST. From left are Jihyun Lee, and Dr. Chinh Nguyen-Huy.
The primary component of natural gas, methane, is itself a potent greenhouse gas. A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a high performance catalyst for methane conversion to formaldehyde.
This breakthrough has been led by Professor Kwang-jin Ahn and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST in collaboration with Professor Ja Hun Kwak (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, UNIST), Professor Eun Duck Park from Ajou University, and Professor Yoon Seok Jung from Hanyang University.
In this work, the team has presented an excellent ‘methane oxidase catalyst’ consisting of nanomaterials. This material has a stable structure and high reactivity at high temperatures, increasing the efficiency of converting methane to formaldehyde more than twice as much as before.
Methane, like petroleum, can be converted into useful resources through chemical reactions. The main ingredient of shale gas, which is attracting attention in the US in recent years, is methane, and the technology to make high value-added resources with this material is also recognized as important. The problem is that the chemical structure of methane is so stable that it does not easily react to other substances. So far, methane has been used primarily as fuel for heating and transportation.
A high temperature above 600 ° C is required to effect a reaction that changes the chemical structure of methane. Therefore, a catalyst having a stable structure and maintaining reactivity in this environment is required. Previously, vanadium oxide (V2O2) and molybdenum oxide (MoO3) were known to be the best catalysts. When these catalysts were used, the formaldehyde conversion of methane was less than 10%.
Schematic image showing [email protected]@Al2O3 [email protected] nanostructures.
Professor Ahn made a catalyst that could convert methane to formaldehyde using nanomaterials. Formaldehyde is a useful resource widely used as a raw material for bactericides, preservatives, functional polymers and the like.
The catalyst has a core-shell structure consisting of vanadium oxide nanoparticles surrounded by a thin aluminum film, with the aluminum shell surrounding the vanadium oxide particles. The shell protects the grain and keeps the catalyst stable and maintains stability and reactivity even at high temperatures.
In fact, when the catalytic reaction was tested with this material, vanadium oxide nanoparticles without aluminum shells had a structural loss at 600 ° C. and lost catalytic activity. However, nanoparticles made from core-shell structures remained stable even at high temperatures. As a result, the efficiency of converting methane to formaldehyde increased by more than 22%. It turned methane into a useful resource with more than twice the efficiency.
“The catalytic vanadium oxide nanoparticles are surrounded by a thin aluminum film, which effectively prevents the agglomeration and structural deformation of the internal particles,” says Euiseob Yang from the Department of Chemical Engineering at UNIST partook as the first author of this study. “Through the new structure of covering the atomic layer with nanoparticles, Thermal stability and reactivity at the same time.”
Schematic preparation of [email protected]@Al2O3 [email protected] nanostructures.
This research is particularly noteworthy in terms of improvement in the catalyst field, which has not made great progress in 30 years. The catalytic technology to produce formaldehyde in methane has not made much progress since it was patented in the US in 1987.
“The high-efficiency catalyst technology has been developed beyond the limits of the technology that has remained as a long-lasting technology,” says Professor Ahn. “The value is high as a next-generation energy technology utilizing abundant natural resources.”
He adds, “We plan to expand the catalyst manufacturing technology and catalyst process process so that we can expand our laboratory-level achievements industrially. The catalyst technology has a considerable effect on the chemical industry and contributes to the national chemical industry. I want to develop a practical technology that can do it.”
Learn more: Researchers Find New Ways to Harness Wasted Methane
The Latest on: Waste methane
via Google News
The Latest on: Waste methane
- Food Wasteon December 5, 2019 at 11:18 am
I’m not proud of this. Recently I’ve begun a project to waste less food as a way of doing my part to effect climate change. Landfills are the third largest source of methane gas in the United States.
- Lessen food waste with creative leftovers!on December 3, 2019 at 3:11 pm
Why should we be concerned about food waste? There are a few reasons: food insecurity, resource conservation and methane gas emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is more effective than CO2 at ...
- Maine Wants to Store, Not Waste, Excess Renewable Energyon December 2, 2019 at 3:43 pm
In a presentation to the study group, Bradshaw outlined the potential from landfills, which emit methane as waste decomposes, as well as dairy farms and municipal wastewater treatment plants. In Maine ...
- Pennsylvania Company Wants to Produce Truck Fuel from the Waste at an Old Town Landfillon December 1, 2019 at 7:30 pm
An expected timeline for the project was not available. Founded in 2018, Archaea grew out of a company that offers landfilling and waste hauling in the Pittsburgh area. It hopes to refine the methane ...
- Chew On This: Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricityon November 30, 2019 at 4:42 am
And, when all this food rots in a landfill, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In fact, a recent report from the United Nations from a panel of climate ...
- How reducing food waste can impact the environment, your walleton November 28, 2019 at 5:53 am
Food in landfills creates methane. More greenhouse gases than 37 million cars on the road. And if that's not enough to make you want to cut down on food waste, how about this? “The average household ...
- The EPA Sends Half-Assed Thanksgiving Message About Food Wasteon November 27, 2019 at 1:05 pm
That’s, uh, a whole lot of food. And it all winds up in landfills where it contributes to methane emissions. There’s nothing wrong with Wheeler calling out the disgusting way we waste food every ...
- Digesting Thanksgiving Leftovers: One Utah Facility Turning Food Waste Into Energyon November 26, 2019 at 7:09 am
“When they break down that organic waste without oxygen, they offgas methane. So we are able to capture that methane, clean it up a little bit, and stick it into the pipeline as a renewable natural ...
- How To Reduce Food Waste This Thanksgivingon November 25, 2019 at 2:43 pm
All that food makes for a welcoming table, but it can also lead to a serious amount of food waste. And it’s not just a problem at Thanksgiving. Individuals throw out an average of 20 pounds of food ...
- Napa Farmers Market: Combating food wasteon November 25, 2019 at 1:29 pm
If all the food produced were consumed, we would eliminate hunger in America. Food waste makes up 50 percent of landfills and releases methane gas that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in ...
via Bing News