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 Wed, Sep 02, 2009 @ 02:07 PM
Two of our main product ranges that we supply in the UK market greatly benefit from the use of powerful earth magnetic technology.
Autoclave Engineers first developed and launched their magnedrive powered laboratory stirred reactors back in 1958 leading the world in this development. This was a way of having a sealed reactor free from risk of leakage or contamination that could be accurately stirred even when run at high pressures. This was achieved using a magnet coupling between driver magnets (rotated by an motor) and an encapsulated inner magnet assembly which leads to a shaft and impeller, so as the driver magnets are rotated the impeller and shaft are also rotated. Such are the strength of the magnets used that accurate controlled stirring can be achieved even at high torque requirements and under high pressures or temperatures.
The other excellent use of magnets comes from Rubotherm. Many years ago the research team in the Thermodynamics dept at the Ruhr University in Bochum had a project requiring gravimetric analysis of samples at raised pressures. Conventional gravimetric systems have a direct connection between the precision balance and the sample - which is great for low pressure applications, but once you get above 20bar or so or start to look into things like corrosive vapours then you get a bit stuck as your balance is in the same area as the sample you wish to subject to the high pressure etc, and doing so will damage the balance, so conventional systems weren’t any use.
So using a magnet/electromagnet coupling, a position sensor and a cracking control system they devised a magnetical coupling gravimetric system for measuring mass change/transfer of sample while subjected to a wide range of conditions.
This technology was eventually patented and a spin off company formed (Rubotherm). Systems have now been supplied all over the world for a variety of applications, including gas storage (e.g. hydrogen, CO2 or Methane into zeolites or MOFs), corrosion testing, biomass and coal gasification, polymer degradation and lots more. We’ve been up to pressures as high as 2000bar, temperatures as high as 1600degC and no problem at all dosing corrosive things over samples and measuring mass change.
The latest development allows TGA type measurements at raised pressures. Why would you want to do that? Well with some applications it allows you to imitate the real life conditions that would effect your sample and measure accurately what happens, for example HP TGA on oil, biomass or coal gasification, degradation of materials used in off shore drilling….. This hasn’t been possible until now as other TGA systems only operate at atmospheric pressures.
So thanks to the attraction of the magnet our customers in the UK are able to push their research into new and exciting areas……
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 @ 02:30 PM
August is traditionally a holiday month all over the world, with many companies (particularly those in Southern Europe) traditionally closing for the entire month. However this year we’re finding that August (and also September) has become the month of conferences.
Last week Merrow Scientific was present at a very well attended 42nd IUPAC congress in Glasgow.
Good to see such an active community on various topics including one close to our hearts, hydrogen storage. So our Rubotherm gravimetric sorption systems went down well. As well as several further enquiries for the new unique high pressure TGA system based around the Rubotherm MSB (magnetic suspension balance) technology - including coal and biomass gasification.
And next week it’s on to the British Zeolite Association annual conference, again lots of focus on unique storage materials for such applications as hydrogen storage. Good to see lots of effort being pushed into the new fuel sector.
And then the following month it’s on to the RAPS (Polymer Science) meeting and the Surface Area, Pore Size and Related Measurements meeting at Imperial College……
So a busy month ahead at conferences rather than holidays, but given the state of the weather…….