New Technique Developed to Assess Catalyst Activity with Fuel Gases

	Thomas Simonyi, left, and Stephen Beer use a thermogravimetric analyzer to analyze heavy metals to determine their suitability for making thin-film sensors for natural gas.

Researchers in the Energy System Dynamics Division of NETL’s Office of Research and Development are teaming with Carnegie Mellon University and West Virginia University to develop sensor arrays that can respond to rapid changes in fuel gas composition.

The ability to detect and respond to changes is increasingly important because of the anticipated increased usage of liquefied natural gas in the nation’s pipeline system. This University Research Initiative project will take advantage of an analytical technique developed by NETL researchers.

The technique for sensing hydrocarbons such as methane (C1), ethane (C2) and propane (C3) involves characterize their cracking behavior over catalyst materials.

The technique developed by NETL researchers differentiates the activity of platinum metal catalysts with C1-C3 gases from thermal cracking. 

The technique isolates the behavior of the catalyst by dividing selected peak intensity ratios in the catalyst run by the corresponding ratios in a blank run with identical parameters. 

NETL Researchers Study CO₂ Sequestration in Unmineable Coal Seams

	Sheila Hedges, a research chemist at NETL, examines a fine precipitate forming in a groundwater sample after an experiment conducted to examine chemical changes during carbon dioxide storage in unmineable coal seams.

Researchers in the Geosciences Division of NETL’s Office of Research and Development have shown that that changes to the produced water chemistry and the potential for mobilizing toxic trace elements from coal beds are important factors to be considered when evaluating deep, unmineable coal seams for CO₂ sequestration.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Sheila W. Hedges, has conducted an initial investigation into the potential environmental impacts of CO₂ sequestration in unmineable coal seams.

The research was focused on changes in the produced water during enhanced coal bed methane production, using a CO₂ injection process.  Details of this exploratory evaluation of mobilization of trace elements from coal have been published in the most recent issue of International Journal of Environment and Pollution.

A high volatile bituminous coal, Pittsburgh No. 8, was reacted with synthetic produced water and gaseous carbon dioxide to evaluate the potential for mobilization of toxic metals during CO₂ -enhanced coal bed methane sequestration. 

Microscopic and X-ray diffraction analysis of the post-reaction coal samples clearly show evidence of chemical reaction, and chemical analysis of the synthetic produced water shows substantial changes in composition.

NETL Prepares Novel Membrane from Metal Organic Framework

	Michael Schwartz, a National Research Council fellow working at NETL, prepares a sample of the MOF membrane.

Researchers in the Chemistry and Surface Science Division of NETL’s Office of Research and Development have prepared and tested a novel gas separation membrane based on advanced materials called metal organic frameworks, or MOFs.

Results of NETL research on the membrane will be presented for the first time in the Fuel Chemistry Division of the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston during August. 

MOFs are highly porous compounds that have recently aroused great interest because of their potential to adsorb and separate gases such as carbon dioxide.

Tests of the membrane show that carbon dioxide moves through the pores by a surface diffusion mechanism. This means that the adsorption and movement of carbon dioxide along the inner surface of the micro-pore allow it to move through the membrane at a faster rate than expected for a gas that is not readily adsorbed.

New research results encourage further development of membranes that can meet the pressing demands to separate carbon dioxide from flue gases or from mixtures of other gases encountered in fuel production.

NETL Completes Power Plant Field Test for Monitoring of Fireside Corrosion

	NETL researchers Sophie Bullard, Steve Matthes, and Bernie Covino (left to right) install a new corrosion sensor during the five-month field trial.

Researchers in the Materials Performance Division of NETL’s Office of research and Development have completed a five-month field test of a tool that power plant operators can use to monitor the corrosion of boiler components.

Air-cooled electrochemical corrosion sensors, designed and built at NETL, were placed in four locations of a boiler at the location and depth of the waterwall at the Covanta Marion, Inc., waste incineration plant in Brooks, Oregon.

Sensors were replaced after one- to two-month intervals to study their degradation and to replace the thermocouples.  Initial results show that this technology was able to follow changes in corrosion due to process changes such as startup and shutdown.

Two different sensor alloys were used. Further analysis of the data has shown that electrochemical corrosion rates can be calibrated against mass loss measurements of the sensors. 

This technology represents a tool for power plant operators to monitor degradation of boiler components and to use corrosion rate as a process variable.

Covanta Marion, Inc., is a Covanta Energy Company.

NETL Researcher performing experiments at DOE’s National Synchrotron Light Source

	Researcher Todd Gardner holds a hexaaluminate reforming catalyst developed at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory to reform diesel fuel into hydrogen for fuel cells. NETL has established the Fuel Processing Laboratory to study catalysts that can be used in reforming.

Researcher Todd Gardner of the Separations and Fuels Processing Division in the Office of Research and Development is using synchrotron radiation at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory to investigate the properties of catalysts that could be used for diesel fuel reforming, and perhaps also as efficient catalysts for carbon dioxide-methane reforming.

Synchrotron radiation is produced when electrons are accelerated to near the speed of light. Researchers use it to investigate fundamental properties of materials.

In order to be accepted for research at the NSLS, one of DOE’s national user centers, a proposal must be recognized as having high scientific technical merit and quality. Gardner and Ed Kugler, a chemical engineering professor at West Virginia University, collaborated to prepare the proposal and perform the research. The research at the light source is part of an NETL University Research Initiative with WVU to investigate efficient hexaaluminate catalysts.

Hexaaluminate catalysts are unique materials. Their structure controls the formation of metallic clusters on the surface of the catalyst. This property can be exploited to control the deposition of carbon onto the catalyst’s surface during catalytic reaction. 

Hexaaluminate catalysts are being investigated as partial oxidation catalysts for diesel fuel reforming; however, Gardner thinks that they may have application as efficient carbon dioxide-methane reforming catalysts as well.

Results of fundamental research performed at the NSLS will help Gardner to more clearly understand the structure-activity relationship of hexaaluminate catalyst systems. 

In addition to performing his doctoral dissertation on the subject of hexaaluminate catalysts, Gardner has two pending U.S. patents on hexaaluminate and hexametallate reforming catalyst systems.