Patent of catalyst for natural gas reforming technologies

This article is promoted by the United Arab Emirates University.

This research is driven by the crucial role of natural gas in reducing the dependence on petroleum oil and its momentous value as a source of hydrogen fuel and a wide variety of other value-added chemicals. Therefore, better and more efficient utilisation of natural gas as a source of clean energy and chemicals is one of the potential strategies to reduce dependence on petroleum oil facilitating the transition to a cleaner and more cost-efficient energy future.

However, its current conversion technology to hydrogen and other commodities is still a costly process due to different technical challenges. Therefore, different routes of CH4 (the major component of natural gas) reforming are being widely studied.

All known potential reforming routes are based on catalytic reactions, where the performance depends mainly on different characteristics of the catalytical material. Catalysts that are known to exhibit high activity in all methane conversions are usually based on costly noble metals including Pt, Pd, Ru, and Rh. Fortunately, Nickel (Ni), which is significantly more cost-efficient, is an attractive potential alternative.

However, coke formation over Ni-based catalysts during the reforming reactions remains a major challenge as accumulating coke leads to catalysts’ deactivation. In the present invention, a novel coking-resistant Ni-based catalyst was developed, holding great promise for developing robust commercially feasible catalytic materials for methane-reforming technologies.

The invented material is composed of Ni nanoparticles supported on aluminium oxide modified with well-dispersed iron ions. The resulting low-cost composite has shown a long-life activity as a catalyst for partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas, H2 and CO mixture, which is an intermediate for a wide variety of value-added products, in very high yields with significantly high coking resistance making it a promising catalytic material for natural gas reforming technologies.

Natural gas plays a pivotal role in the United Arab Emirates’ economic development and in the world’s energy supply. With about 200 trillion cubic feet, the UAE has the seventh largest gas reserves in the world.

With these significant reserves in the UAE, the investment in better utilisation of natural gas becomes an essential area of research and instrumental to the economic development of the country.

Besides its significant economic value, the invention deals with the production of cleaner alternative fuels and chemicals through more environmentally friendly processes. The invention holds great promise for a momentous impact on the UAE as well as the world’s natural gas-based industry.

Future plans include collaboration with chemical and mechanical engineers to scale up the material production and testing towards designing commercially implementable processes. Further collaborations with companies in the UAE including ADNOC and ADGAS are planned towards commercialisation opportunities.

The patent is invented by Professor Abbas Khaleel and Mr Abdul Rasheed Pillantakath from the department of Chemistry, College of Science at United Arab Emirates University.

This is the 13th in a series of articles promoted by the United Arab Emirates University.