Short Contact Time Catalytic Partial Oxidation (SCT-CPO) for Synthesis Gas Processes and Olefins Production

Abstract

The short contact time oxidation processes for producing synthesis gas and for producing olefins result from the coupling of heterogeneous catalysis characteristics and flameless combustion in porous media. The technological potential of these methods appears huge, and the fundamental concepts development has been linked to the industrial realization. A plant devoted to the production of H2 is now under construction. Instead, the development of a technology for producing the olefins is still struggling with reliability issues. This work touches on some of the main aspects of the pathway that has turned the early discoveries into the current technological solutions.

Stable Rh particles in hydrotalcite-derived catalysts coated on FeCrAlloy foams by electrosynthesis

“…The Catalytic Partial Oxidation (CPO) of CH 4 is nowadays an industrial option to autothermally produce syngas at short contact time values [1]. The CPO catalysts reported in literature are metals (Ni, Co, Pt, Rh) supported on or included in ceramic materials (␥-Al 2 O 3 , ␣-Al 2 O 3 , MgO, MgAl 2 O 4 , CeO 2 or Ce 1−x Zr x O 2 ) [2].…”

“…Such high temperatures may promote homogeneous reactions [7], deactivate the catalyst, and lead to safety risks [8,9]. Several efforts have been made to keep the temperature under control, which deal with either the design of the reactor during CPO scale-up [1] or the use of structured catalysts on laboratory scale.…”

Catalytic Partial Oxidation Coupled with Membrane Purification to Improve Resource and Energy Efficiency in Syngas Production

“…They experimentally demonstrated that a conical-shaped catalytic bed allows the reduction of heat transmission in the backward direction, thus avoiding a high temperature peak at the beginning of catalytic bed. [6] At increasing flow rate, it is possible to investigate higher oxygen-to-carbon ratios before incurring the onset of gasphase reaction. Figure 4 reports the axial temperature profile obtained for catalyst A for a higher GHSV (68 000 h À1 ).…”

“…[6][7][8] In terms of resource and energy efficiency, as well as of environmental impact, Bonneau [3] reported (in the case of syngas production to produce methanol) that CPO, with respect to ATR, partial oxidation (POX) and SR, allows reducing methane consumption (from 32 GJ per tonne of MeOH for SR to 20-30 for CPO), oxygen consumption (from 530 m 3 /t-MeOH to 270-300 for CPO) and CO 2 emissions [from 380 10 3 tpy (tonne per year) for SR to 250-270 for CPO]. CPO, particularly for small-and medium-scale processes, allows thus to significantly improve resource and energy efficiency of the process, as well as the environmental impact.…”

“…For this reason, Rh is typically selected among noble metals, for its lower volatility and the reduced tendency to coke formation. [6,[15][16][17][18] Nickel is another typical metal utilized for catalytic partial oxidation and methane reforming, [19,20] but not suitable in our case due to low temperature of operations. We have thus utilized for experimentation in the SI-scale unit two catalysts based on Rh on different supports and shape in order to analyze the effect on product distribution, stability, and thermal behavior.…”