DOCSLIB.ORG

Scaleable, High Efficiency Microchannel Sabatier Reactor

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scaleable, High Efficiency Microchannel Sabatier Reactor 45th International Conference on Environmental Systems ICES-2015-240 12-16 July 2015, Bellevue, Washington Scaleable, High Efficiency Microchannel Sabatier Reactor John O. Thompson1 UMPQUA Research Company, Myrtle Creek ,OR, 97457 An innovative Microchannel Sabatier Reactor System has been developed for the efficient production of oxygen (as water) and methane from carbon dioxide (CO2), a valuable in situ resource available in the atmosphere or as frozen deposits on Mars and other Near Earth Objects, which will help mitigate mission resupply logistics and risk. The Sabatier reaction benefits from inherently superior micro reactor heat and mass transfer characteristics compared to conventional reactor designs. Significantly, graded temperature micro reactors can readily be configured in a parallel arrangement to vastly improve conversion efficiencies. Process scale-up is easily achieved by increasing the number of equivalent, parallel micro reactors. High conversion rates require the deposition of a highly active, supported catalyst layer onto microchannel walls that is characterized by enhanced surface area, appropriate adsorption characteristics, and catalyst effectiveness factor. A core focus of the research effort was the design of a MSRS that optimizes residence time, thermal recovery, and most importantly, the achievement of near equilibrium reaction product composition at low temperature. A three stage reactor consisting of a supported noble metal catalyst on stainless steel tubing and sequentially heated to 365, 294, and 234 degrees centigrade demonstrated 96% single pass conversion efficiencies of CO2 to methane for an influent gas composition of 4:1 H2:CO2. Nomenclature MSRS = microchannel Sabatier reactor system ISRU = in situ resource utilization ESM = equivalent system mass CRA = carbon dioxide reduction assembly ESA = European Space Agency JAXA = Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency RWGS = reverse water-gas shift PNNL = Pacific Northwest National Laboratory EISA = Evaporation Induced Self Assembly I. Introduction Oxygen is an important oxidant for high specific energy, chemical fuels such as hydrogen and methane, and oxygen and water are arguably two of the most critical resources for life-support. As such, means to extract O2 and H2O from in situ CO2 are needed to support future Mars exploration missions. Various techniques have been proposed and evaluated for oxygen extraction from the predominantly CO2 Martian atmosphere for ISRU. These include the reduction of Martian carbon dioxide using either the Sabatier or Bosch reactions. The Sabatier reaction is given by Equation 1, in which, methane and water vapor are formed, typically in a fixed- bed catalytic reactor. Using a variety of catalysts and reactor configurations, this reaction has been studied 1- extensively for the recovery of O2 (as water via electrolysis) from CO2 for employment aboard manned spacecraft. 10 The chief limitation to this approach for ISRU applications is the requirement to supply hydrogen lost in the methane byproduct, although methane may be used as an in situ generated propellant. 1 Principal Investigator, R&D, Address: UMPQUA Research Company PO Box 609 Myrtle Creek OR 97457. Ru/Al23 O CO22 + 4H → 2H2 O + CH 4 (1) The Bosch reaction,11-15 given by Equation 2, is another well-known process allowing the recovery of oxygen from carbon dioxide by reacting it with hydrogen at elevated temperature in the presence of appropriate catalysts forming water vapor and elemental carbon (C). Fe / Co / Ni CO22 + 2H → 2H2 O + C(s) (2) The production of carbon by the Bosch reaction limits its usefulness due to degradation of reactor performance through catalyst degradation or reactor plugging. This situation results in a clear advantage to the entirely gas phase Sabatier reaction. The Sabatier reaction enables the complete recovery of O2 from CO2 via electrolysis of the H2O product. Hydrogen represents the only consumable in that only ½ of the consumed H2 is recovered by H2O electrolysis. The H2 reduction of CO2 via the Sabatier reaction results in the formation of H2O and CH4 (Equation 1). Both products of this exothermic reaction are valuable to space exploration. Methane can be used either as a propellant or as a H2 source, and the recovered H2O may be consumed pure, used to reconstitute dehydrated food, or electrolyzed to recover O2 and H2. Many heterogeneous catalysts have been thoroughly investigated for the Sabatier reaction, including a wide variety of catalytic metals and support materials. Industrial applications favor nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), and molybdenum (Mo) catalysts due to their reduced cost although these metals generally require higher temperatures to achieve reasonable kinetics.16-22 At lower temperatures involving special applications, for which expense is less important than activity, ruthenium (Ru) is primarily utilized either by itself or in combination with secondary metals such as palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), or platinum (Pt).23-31 To enhance catalyst performance, various materials have been utilized as catalyst supports, with titania (TiO2), alumina (Al2O3), and zirconia (ZrO2) supported catalysts being the most active.23,24,26,28,29,31 Heat removal is particularly important for the exothermic Sabatier reaction because the equilibrium conversion of CO2 drops below 100% above 100°C, and at temperatures between 400 and 500°C the equilibrium conversion drops from ~85% to 65%. This is shown in Figure 1, which illustrates the equilibrium products for the Sabatier reaction with a starting 4:1 molar ratio of H2:CO2. Maintaining precise thermal control of an exothermic reaction in a packed bed or conventional monolithic reactor is difficult due to intrinsic heat transfer limitations. These large- scale reactors can also have reduced effectiveness factors due to mass transfer limitations imposed by pore diffusion resistance and the relatively large bulk diffusion distances. Utilization of a graded temperature micro reactor will circumvent the shortcomings common in packed bed reactor systems. Micro reactors benefit from inherently high heat and mass transfer coefficients due to the exceptionally short heat and mass transfer distances.32,33 Advantages inherent in micro reactor systems have led to a dramatic increase in the investigation of their application to a wide variety of chemical processes ranging from fuel cells to hydrogen peroxide synthesis. Many of the chemistries related to hydrocarbon processing including desulfurization, petroleum cracking, biodiesel esterification and transesterification reactions, Fischer-Tropsch reactions, and syngas production, have been incorporated into micro reactors of various designs.34-37 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 H2 Species Quantity (kmoles)Species Quantity H2O 0.1 CH4 CO2 CO 0.0 0.0 100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 Temperature (oC) Figure 1 Equilibrium Product Distribution Versus Temperature at a 4:1 H2:CO2 Ratio. 2 International Conference on Environmental Systems As previously mentioned, the Sabatier reaction is particularly well suited to a micro reactor because of the importance of temperature control. The thermodynamic data show that the equilibrium conversion declines from 100% at temperatures above ~100°C. The heat of reaction released during CO2 reduction will result in a significantly lower CO2 conversion if thermal control is not maintained and temperature increases. As the temperature rises, equilibrium increasingly favors secondary products such as CO. Unfortunately, the reaction kinetics are too slow to make operation at 100°C practical, and in fact, conversion rates do not approach equilibrium until approximately 400°C, depending on reactor activity and space velocities.23,24,26,29 This implies that conversion cannot exceed 85% in a single pass reactor operated above 400°C. The equilibrium may be shifted toward 100% by 38 increasing the H2 to CO2 ratio, but doing so reduces the savings to ESM because more H2 passes downstream and must be recovered or lost. In fact, the design for the Hamilton-Sundstrand developed CRA Sabatier reactor specifies 31,39 a 3.5:1 molar ratio of H2:CO2 to ensure maximum utilization of H2. This trade off between kinetics and equilibrium highlights the flexibility advantage of micro reactor systems, as a graded temperature micro reactor can operate with temperature profiles that maximize product yield and selectivity. In addition, a micro reactor array can be configured to provide the required process capacity by numbering up the system to meet process requirements. For example, a micro reactor with a channel cross-section of 250 µm by 1000 µm that consists of four U-shaped channels per layer and has ~30 layers has an internal volume of ~1.25 cm3. If this reactor were to see 2.0 L/min of CO2 mixed with H2 at a 1:4 molar ratio, the resultant residence time would be ~10 ms, which is insufficient for acceptable conversions at 400°C. A micro reactor array consisting of 40 parallel units would increase the residence time to 400 ms and enable the reaction to achieve equilibrium according to published micro reactor work.24,26,29 However, as previously indicated, the yield under these conditions is only 85%. A graded temperature micro reactor provides an alternative approach to overcoming these conversion limits by taking advantage of favorable high temperature kinetics in the first portion of the reactor and more favorable equilibria in the cooler length of the reactor. For example, if the CO2 flow rate is 1 mol/min at the reactor inlet, and reaction kinetics at 400°C are such that equilibrium is reached, then the outlet CO2 flow rate will be 0.15 mol/min. However, as the reactor temperature is reduced to 300°C, the equilibrium conversion improves to ~93%; resulting in an outlet CO2 flow of 0.07mol/min provided the contact time is sufficiently long. As the gas continues through the graded temperature micro reactor an exit temperature of 200°C could be achieved with nearly 100% conversion at equilibrium. Although reduction reaction kinetics diminish as temperature is reduced, significantly less reactant remains that must be consumed in the remaining contact time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Capture and Reuse of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for a Plastics Circular Economy: a Review
    processes Review Capture and Reuse of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for a Plastics Circular Economy: A Review Laura Pires da Mata Costa 1 ,Débora Micheline Vaz de Miranda 1, Ana Carolina Couto de Oliveira 2, Luiz Falcon 3, Marina Stella Silva Pimenta 3, Ivan Guilherme Bessa 3,Sílvio Juarez Wouters 3,Márcio Henrique S. Andrade 3 and José Carlos Pinto 1,* 1 Programa de Engenharia Química/COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, CP 68502, Rio de Janeiro 21941-972, Brazil; [email protected] (L.P.d.M.C.); [email protected] (D.M.V.d.M.) 2 Escola de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, CP 68525, Rio de Janeiro 21941-598, Brazil; [email protected] 3 Braskem S.A., Rua Marumbi, 1400, Campos Elíseos, Duque de Caxias 25221-000, Brazil; [email protected] (L.F.); [email protected] (M.S.S.P.); [email protected] (I.G.B.); [email protected] (S.J.W.); [email protected] (M.H.S.A.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +55-21-3938-8709 Abstract: Plastic production has been increasing at enormous rates. Particularly, the socioenvi- ronmental problems resulting from the linear economy model have been widely discussed, espe- cially regarding plastic pieces intended for single use and disposed improperly in the environment. Nonetheless, greenhouse gas emissions caused by inappropriate disposal or recycling and by the Citation: Pires da Mata Costa, L.; many production stages have not been discussed thoroughly. Regarding the manufacturing pro- Micheline Vaz de Miranda, D.; Couto cesses, carbon dioxide is produced mainly through heating of process streams and intrinsic chemical de Oliveira, A.C.; Falcon, L.; Stella transformations, explaining why first-generation petrochemical industries are among the top five Silva Pimenta, M.; Guilherme Bessa, most greenhouse gas (GHG)-polluting businesses.
    [Show full text]
  • Implementation of Electrofuel Production at a Biogas Plant Case Study at Borås Energi & Miljö Master’S Thesis Within the Sustainable Energy Systems Programme
    Biogas Digester Rawgas Gas upgrade Gas CO2 Biogas Organic waste Sabatier reactor Implementation of electrofuel production at a biogas plant Case study at Borås Energi & Miljö Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy Systems programme TOBIAS JOHANNESSON Department of Energy and Environment Division of Physical Resource Theory Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg, Sweden 2016 FRT 2016:03 master’s thesis Implementation of electrofuel production at a biogas plant Case study at Borås Energi & Miljö Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy Systems programme tobias johannesson supervisors: Stavros Papadokonstantakis & Camilla Ölander Examiner Maria Grahn Department of Energy and Environment Division of Physical Resource Theory chalmers university of technology Göteborg, Sweden 2016 Implementation of electrofuel production at a biogas plant Case study at Borås Energi & Miljö Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy Systems programme TOBIAS JOHANNESSON FRT 2016:03 © TOBIAS JOHANNESSON, 2016 Department of Energy and Environment Division of Physical Resource Theory Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Göteborg Sweden Telephone: + 46 (0)31-772 10 00 Cover: Schematic picture over a simplified biogas process with an implemented Sabatier reactor. Chalmers Reproservice Göteborg, Sweden 2016 Implementation of electrofuel production at a biogas plant Case study at Borås Energi & Miljö Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy Systems programme TOBIAS JOHANNESSON Department of Energy and Environment Division of Physical Resource Theory Chalmers University of Technology Abstract One way to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gases is to use a renewable vehicle fuel, such as biogas. By separating methane from carbon dioxide in raw gas in a gas upgrading system, biogas is produced.
    [Show full text]
  • AD-MARTEM-OFFICIAL-2.Pdf
    Odysseus II Space Contest The TEAM INTERSTELLAR Giulia Bassani & Nicola Timpano Liceo M. Curie Collegno Italy presents… Odysseus II Space Contest AD MARTEM “How to build an autonomous space station on Mars?” Odysseus II Space Contest EARTH MARS 23.44° YEAR 25,19° 365 days 686 days(667 sols) GRAVITY 9.81 m/s² 3.71 m/s² SOLAR LIGHT 24 h 40 m 1.37*10³ W/m² 6.1*10² W/m² 24 h ATMOSPHERE 1013 mbar 7.6 mbar 0.039% CO2 95% 78% N2 2.6% 0.4% H2O 0.03% 0.93% Ar 1.6% 20.9% O2 0.13% Odysseus II Space Contest Odysseus II Space Contest Geodesic Dome Semi-spherical structure made up of a network of beams lying on great circles (geodesics). It becomes proportionally more resistant with increasing size. In the picture→ Artistic view of our base made by us with 3D Studio Max. Resistant against the strong Martian sand-storms. This shape avoids the accumulation of sand and other debris on its surface. Odysseus II Space Contest Materials Multilayered-walls are built with regolith and water (obtained from the permafrost) using a 3D printer. If water freezes, the protection against the cosmic rays is improved. The Ad Martem Program Mission 1 – Cargo •Robotic 3D Printer •Nuclear reactor •Inflatable module Mission 2 – Setup Short human mission •Life Support System •Water and food •Rovers Mission 3 – Stay Human mission Odysseus II Space Contest The Main Base Made with Geogebra Odysseus II Space Contest Made with Geogebra The Main Base Odysseus II Space Contest No windows! Because they would let in the radiations.
    [Show full text]
  • Power to Gas – Bridging Renewable Electricity to the Transport Sector
    POWER TO GAS – BRIDGING RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY TO THE TRANSPORT SECTOR Abstract Globally, transport accounts for a significant part of the total energy utilization and is heavily dominated by fossil fuels. The main challenge is how the greenhouse gas emissions in road transport can be addressed. Moreover, the use of fossil fuels in road transport makes most countries or regions dependent on those with oil and/or gas assets. With that said, the question arises of what can be done to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions and furthermore reduce dependency on oil? One angle is to study what source of energy is used. Biomass is considered to be an important energy contributor in future transport and has been a reliable energy source for a long time. However, it is commonly known that biomass alone cannot sustain the energy needs in the transport sector by far. This work presents an alternative where renewable electricity could play a significant role in road transport within a relatively short time period. Today the amount of electricity used in road transport is negligible but has a potential to contribute substantially. It is suggested that the electricity should be stored, or “packaged” in a chemical manner, as a way of conserving the electrical energy. One way of doing so is to chemically synthesize fuels. It has been investigated how a fossil free transport system could be designed, to reach high levels of self- sufficiency. According to the studies, renewable electricity could have the single most important role in such a system. Among the synthetic fuels, synthetic methane (also called synthetic biogas) is the main focus of the thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • State of NASA Oxygen Recovery
    48th International Conference on Environmental Systems ICES-2018-48 8-12 July 2018, Albuquerque, New Mexico State of NASA Oxygen Recovery Zachary W. Greenwood1, Morgan B. Abney2, Brittany R. Brown3, Eric T. Fox4, and Christine Stanley5 NASA, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, 35812, USA Life support is a critical function of any crewed space vehicle or habitat. One of the key elements of the life support system is the provision of oxygen to the crew. For missions close to Earth, oxygen may be resupplied from the ground, but as we look at exploring further out into the solar system for longer periods of time oxygen recovery from metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) becomes a priority to minimize resupply requirements and enable feasible mission architectures. For more than half a century NASA has pursued the development of technology to enable oxygen recovery from metabolic CO2. Development work has included Bosch, Sabatier, and CO2 electrolysis systems and more recently plasma reactors, ionic liquids, and other exotic processes. NASA’s historical oxygen recovery work as well as the current state of oxygen recovery work currently going on within the agency is presented and discussed. Nomenclature IL = Ionic Liquid AR = Atmosphere Revitalization ISS = International Space Station C2H2 = Acetylene MSFC = Marshall Space Flight Center C2H4 = Ethylene OGA = Oxygen Generation Assembly C2H6 = Ethane PPA = Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly C = Carbon PSI = Pounds per Square Inch CM = Crew Member PSIG = Pounds per Square Inch Gauge CDRA = Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly RGA = Residual Gas Analyzer CFR = Carbon Formation Reactor RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanizing CH4 = Methane RWGS = Reverse Water-Gas Shift CORTS = Carbon Dioxide Reduction Test Stand SBIR = Small Business Innovation Research CRA = Carbon Dioxide Reduction Assembly SCOR = Spacecraft Oxygen Recovery ECLSS = Environmental Control and Life SDU = Sabatier Development Unit Support Systems SI = Sustainable Innovations, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis As the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production †
    energies Article Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production † Andreas Meurer * and Jürgen Kern Department of Energy Systems Analysis, Institute of Networked Energy Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Curiestraße 4, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +49-711-6862-8100 † This paper is an extended version of our conference paper from 15th SDEWES Conference, Cologne, Germany, 1–5 September 2020. Abstract: Synthetic fuels play an important role in the defossilization of future aviation transport. To reduce the ecological impact of remote airports due to the long-range transportation of kerosene, decentralized on-site production of synthetic paraffinic kerosene is applicable, preferably as a near- drop-in fuel or, alternatively, as a blend. One possible solution for such a production of synthetic kerosene is the power-to-liquid process. We describe the basic development of a simplified plant layout addressing the specific challenges of decentralized kerosene production that differs from most of the current approaches for infrastructural well-connected regions. The decisive influence of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis on the power-to-liquid (PtL) process is shown by means of a steady-state reactor model, which was developed in Python and serves as a basis for the further development of a modular environment able to represent entire process chains. The reactor model is based on reaction kinetics according to the current literature. The effects of adjustments of the main operation parameters on the reactor behavior were evaluated, and the impacts on the up- and downstream Citation: Meurer, A.; Kern, J.
    [Show full text]
  • Carbon Based Materials for Electrochemical and Chemical Energy Conversion and Storage Wei Wang
    Carbon based materials for electrochemical and chemical energy conversion and storage Wei Wang To cite this version: Wei Wang. Carbon based materials for electrochemical and chemical energy conversion and storage. Catalysis. Université de Strasbourg, 2019. English. NNT : 2019STRAF059. tel-03191849 HAL Id: tel-03191849 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03191849 Submitted on 7 Apr 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITÉ DE STRASBOURG ÉCOLE DOCTORALE DES SCIENCES CHIMIQUES (ED 222) ICPEES, UMR 7515 CNRS THÈSE présentée par : Wei WANG soutenue le : 06 décembre 2019 pour obtenir le grade de : Docteur de l’université de Strasbourg Discipline/ Spécialité : Chimie/Chimie Matériaux à base de carbone pour la conversion et le stockage d'énergie électrochimique et chimique Carbon based Materials for Electrochemical and Chemical Energy Conversion and Storage THÈSE dirigée par : M. PHAM-HUU Cuong Directeur de Recherche, Université de Strasbourg RAPPORTEURS : M. de JONG Krijn P. Professeur, Universiteit Utrecht M. KHODAKOV Andrei Directeur de Recherche, Université de Lille 1 EXAMINATEUR : M. LOUIS Benoît Directeur de Recherche, Université de Strasbourg MEMBRE INVITE : M. GIAMBASTIANI Giuliano Directeur de Recherche, Italian National Research Council Acknowledgement My PhD thesis has been performed at the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES, UMR 7515) of the CNRS, University of Strasbourg.
    [Show full text]
  • Power-To-Gas – a Technical Review
    SGC Rapport 2013:284 Power-to-Gas – A technical review (El-till-Gas – System, ekonomi och teknik) Gunnar Benjaminsson, Johan Benjaminsson, Robert Boogh Rudberg ”Catalyzing energygas development for sustainable solutions” Power to Gas – a Technical Review Gunnar Benjaminsson, Johan Benjaminsson, Robert Boogh Rudberg This study was funded by: Avfall Sverige Borås Energi och Miljö AB DGC Energinet.dk Gasefuels AB Lunds Energikoncernen AB (publ) NSR AB © Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB Postadress och Besöksadress Telefonväxel E-post Scheelegatan 3 040-680 07 60 [email protected] 212 28 MALMÖ Telefax Hemsida 0735-279104 www.sgc.se SGC Rapport 2013:284 2 Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, Malmö – www.sgc.se SGC Rapport 2013:284 Svenskt Gastekniskt Center AB, SGC SGC är ett spjutspetsföretag inom hållbar utveckling med ett nationellt uppdrag. Vi arbetar under devisen ”Catalyzing energygas development for sustainable solutions”. Vi samord- nar branschgemensam utveckling kring framställning, distribution och användning av energigaser och sprider kunskap om energigaser. Fokus ligger på förnybara gaser från rötning och förgasning. Tillsammans med företag och med Energimyndigheten och dess kollektivforskningsprogram Energigastekniskt utvecklingsprogram utvecklar vi nya möjlig- heter för energigaserna att bidra till ett hållbart samhälle. Tillsammans med våra fokus- grupper inom Rötning, Förgasning och bränslesyntes, Distribution och lagring, Kraft/Värme och Gasformiga drivmedel identifierar vi frågeställningar av branschgemen- samt intresse att genomföra forsknings-, utvecklings och/eller demonstrationsprojekt kring. Som medlem i den europeiska gasforskningsorganisationen GERG fångar SGC också upp internationella perspektiv på utvecklingen inom energigasområdet. Resultaten från projekt drivna av SGC publiceras i en särskild rapportserie – SGC Rap- port. Rapporterna kan laddas ned från hemsidan – www.sgc.se.
    [Show full text]
  • Electrofuels – a Possibility for Shipping in a Low Carbon Future?
    ELECTROFUELS – A POSSIBILITY FOR SHIPPING IN A LOW CARBON FUTURE? Maria Taljegård1, Selma Brynolf1, Julia Hansson1,2, Roman Hackl2, Maria Grahn1, Karin Andersson1 1Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden, [email protected] 2IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Valhallavägen 81, 100 31 Stockholm, Sweden ABSTRACT Continued growth of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the shipping industry until 2050 and beyond is expected although of the recent decline. The global share of anthropogenic CO2 emissions from ships is only about 2 percent, but there is a risk that this share will increase substantially if no action is taken. What are the possibilities for decarbonisation of the shipping industry, then? Some of the measures discussed are energy efficiency, use of biofuels and use of hydrogen. In this paper a fourth option is scrutinised – use of electrofuels. Electrofuels is an umbrella term for carbon-based fuels, e.g. methane or methanol, which are produced using electricity as the primary source of energy. The carbon in the fuel comes from CO2 which can be captured from various industrial processes such as exhaust gases, the sea or the air. The production of electrofuels is still in its infancy, and many challenges need to be overcome before electrofuels are brought to market on a large scale. First, this paper gives an overview of the current status of electrofuels regarding technologies, efficiencies and costs. Second, as electrofuels production requires significant amounts of CO2 and electricity, the feasibility to produce enough electrofuels to supply all ships bunkering in Sweden, with regionally produced electricity and regionally emitted CO2, and the amount of CO2 that is required to supply all ships globally is evaluated in two case studies assessing supply potential.
    [Show full text]
  • Technologies for Biogas Upgrading to Biomethane: a Review
    bioengineering Review Technologies for Biogas Upgrading to Biomethane: A Review Amir Izzuddin Adnan 1, Mei Yin Ong 1 , Saifuddin Nomanbhay 1,*, Kit Wayne Chew 2 and Pau Loke Show 2 1 Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia; [email protected] (A.I.A.); [email protected] (M.Y.O.) 2 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor, Malaysia; [email protected] (K.W.C.); [email protected] (P.L.S.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +6-03-8921-7285 Received: 17 September 2019; Accepted: 30 September 2019; Published: 2 October 2019 Abstract: The environmental impacts and high long-term costs of poor waste disposal have pushed the industry to realize the potential of turning this problem into an economic and sustainable initiative. Anaerobic digestion and the production of biogas can provide an efficient means of meeting several objectives concerning energy, environmental, and waste management policy. Biogas contains methane (60%) and carbon dioxide (40%) as its principal constituent. Excluding methane, other gasses contained in biogas are considered as contaminants. Removal of these impurities, especially carbon dioxide, will increase the biogas quality for further use. Integrating biological processes into the bio-refinery that effectively consume carbon dioxide will become increasingly important. Such process integration could significantly improve the sustainability of the overall bio-refinery process. The biogas upgrading by utilization of carbon dioxide rather than removal of it is a suitable strategy in this direction. The present work is a critical review that summarizes state-of-the-art technologies for biogas upgrading with particular attention to the emerging biological methanation processes.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Biomanufactory on Mars Aaron J
    Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 29 December 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0714.v1 Towards a Biomanufactory on Mars Aaron J. Berliner1,2,*, Jacob M. Hilzinger1,2, Anthony J. Abel1,3, Matthew McNulty1,4, George Makrygiorgos1,3, Nils J.H. Averesch1,5, Soumyajit Sen Gupta1,6, Alexander Benvenuti1,6, Daniel Caddell1,7, Stefano Cestellos-Blanco1,8, Anna Doloman1,9, Skyler Friedline1,2, Desiree Ho1,2, Wenyu Gu1,5, Avery Hill1,2, Paul Kusuma1,10, Isaac Lipsky1,2, Mia Mirkovic1,2, Jorge Meraz1,5, Vincent Pane1,11, Kyle B. Sander1,2, Fengzhe Shi1,3, Jeffrey M. Skerker1,2, Alexander Styer1,7, Kyle Valgardson1,9, Kelly Wetmore1,2, Sung-Geun Woo1,5, Yongao Xiong1,4, Kevin Yates1,4, Cindy Zhang1,2, Shuyang Zhen1,12, Bruce Bugbee1,10, Devin Coleman-Derr1,7, Ali Mesbah1,3, Somen Nandi1,4,13, Robert W. Waymouth1,11, Peidong Yang1,3,8,15, Craig S. Criddle1,5, Karen A. McDonald1,4,13, Amor A. Menezes1,6, Lance C. Seefeldt1,9, Douglas S. Clark1,3,14, and Adam P. Arkin1,2,14,* 1Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES), http://cubes.space/ 2Department of Bioengineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 3Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 4Department of Chemical Engineering University of California Davis, Davis, CA 5Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 6Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL 7Department of Plant and Microbial
    [Show full text]
  • Power-To-Gas Concepts Integrated with Syngas Production Through Gasification of Forest Residues Process Modelling
    Power-to-Gas concepts integrated with syngas production through gasification of forest residues Process modelling Master’s thesis in Sustainable Energy System Programme Andrea Gambardella & Yahya Yasin Yahya Department of Energy and Environment CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Göteborg, Sweden 2017 Master’s thesis 2017 Power-to-Gas concepts integrated with syngas production through gasification of forest residues Process modeling Andrea Gambardella & Yahya Yasin Yahya Department of Energy and Environment Division of Energy Technology Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg, Sweden 2017 Power-to-Gas concepts integrated with syngas production through gasification of forest residues Process modelling Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy System Andrea Gambardella & Yahya Yasin Yahya © Andrea Gambardella & Yahya Yasin Yahya, 2017. Supervisor: Johan Ahlström, Department of Energy and Environment Examiner: Stavros Papadokonstantakis, Department of Energy and Environment Master’s Thesis 2017 Department of Energy and Environment Division of Energy Technology Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Göteborg Telephone +46 31 772 1000 Cover: Gasification of biomass with integrated power-to-gas concept. Chalmers Reproservice Göteborg, Sweden 2017 iv Power-to-Gas concepts integrated with syngas production through gasification of forest residues Process modelling Master’s Thesis within the Sustainable Energy System Andrea Gambardella & Yahya Yasin Yahya Department of Energy and Environment Division of Energy Technology Chalmers University of Technology Abstract Climate change and global warming caused by the emission of CO2 from fossil fuels utilization are one of the most challenging environmental threat mankind is fac- ing nowadays. As motives to reduce CO2 emissions, the attentions to replace the fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as biomass, sun and wind is high on agenda in the recent decades.
    [Show full text]