Posted by Ben Proudlove on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 @ 02:05 PM
If you're involved in any aspect of catalyst characterisation please join the Catalyst Characterisation Group recently set up on Linkedin
This group is intended to be an open place for researchers to do some networking and discuss their latest techniques, new research findings, meetings and conferences or anything related to this subject field.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 @ 10:13 AM
Amazing stat: "According to the World Bank, 5.25 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of associated gas - the equivalent of 27 per cent of US gas consumption - was flared in 2004.". This is from an interesting article on the Engineerlive.com website full article can be seen here
The article goes on to mention the reason for the waste is the lack of cost effective technology for capturing this wasted resource offshore, but potentially a solution for this wasteful problem could be small modular systems for conversion of gas to liquids.
So typically what that would involve is first the conversion of the methane (in the associated gas) to syngas in a steam reforming reaction; and then the conversion of the syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) via the Fischer Tropsch reaction to a synthetic fuel that could be shipped and distributed using the normal channels.
The article also mentioned two UK companies that are both developing microchannel reaction systems for this offshore purpose: Oxford Catalysts and CompactGTL.
Some of the challenges associated with this process involve the catalysts to be used - they need to of course work for as long as possible (for example steam reforming catalysts can get a build up of carbon pretty quickly limiting their life) and also they need to maximise their activity - both for the steam reforming reaction and the FT reaction stages. For these type of researchers we supply a range of systems for catalyst characterisation (click to view section)
One of the systems included in that section is the High Pressure TGA system from Rubotherm that allows carbon build up on steam reforming catalysts to be accurately measured at high temperatures (up to 1200degC) and raised pressures (50bar) essential information for any cost effective GTL system....
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Thu, Dec 03, 2009 @ 09:18 AM
A very hot topic at the moment is the coversion of biomass (and I'll include in that coal) to synthetic fuel i.e. by gasification followed by conversion of the syngas to liquid hydrocarbons.
So these researching this area include the guys at Columbia I recently mentioned who are looking at incorporating CO2 into the gasification process to both utilise a waste gas and also improve process efficiency.
Also in the news currently is a big investment going on in Alberta Canada into developing a UCG (underground coal gasification) production site to utilise coal too deep to mine and turn it into liquid hydrocarbons for fuel usage. And you can bet there will be lots more going down this route, particularly when you consider the amount of coal reserves in the USA and their desire to limit their dependency on oil producing countries and also that the technology can be made relatively cleanly, using sunlight for the gasification process (potentially) and the synthetic fuel can be distributed and used using current set ups. 
So there are two main research areas that need looking at:
Biomass or coal to Syngas
and
Syngas to Liquid Hydrocarbons
We supply a range of systems that can be designed to suit a researchers exact requirements to meet all aspects of this research. As such I've set up a dedicated application page and a downloadable presentation detailing the systems and benefits they offer your research. Please visit our Biomass to Liquids application page.
Let me know if you have any questions or need further info - easiest is via our contact us page
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 @ 02:11 PM
Since we represent a number of overseas instrumentation manufacturers in the UK we have a rather unique portfolio of catalyst characteristion systems available to our customers.
So these include reactors (stirred, fixed bed and multi-reactor systems), volumetric sorption analysers (surface area, porosity, chemisorption) and gravimetric sorption instruments (gas sorption, vapour sorption, TGA etc).
Please have a look at the options listed on http://www.merrowscientific.com/catalyst and see what you think. I’m sure if you’re involved in catalysts in any way that there will be something of interest. So have a look and if you have any questions or need anything at all let us know….