SBIR Phase I: Advanced Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在展示一种新型高级加氢脱硫(HDS)催化剂用于深度脱硫的可行性。具体地说，提出了以氧化锌纳米线为载体的金属纳米颗粒，以创建更高性能的反应性吸附剂型加氢脱硫催化剂。加氢脱硫是一种用于从碳氢燃料中脱除硫的过程。在这个过程中，燃料在催化剂存在的情况下用氢气处理。环境法规正在不断压低运输燃料中允许的硫含量，并将在未来继续降低远低于10ppm的限制。此外，低硫浓度对于各种燃料电池和炼油技术是可取的，在这些技术中，少量硫的存在可能会毒害催化剂。目前，传统的加氢脱硫催化剂可以有效地将硫磺脱除到20ppm左右，并留下难以脱除的噻吩类硫化物。在该项目中，提出了一种先进的催化剂和一种可扩展且成本效益高的制造工艺，可以实现深度脱硫，将硫含量降至远低于5ppm。该项目的更广泛的商业潜力将是改善空气质量，并通过提高燃料电池的耐用性和几项炼油技术为国家节省能源/成本。该项目的其他成果还将包括先进催化剂材料的新制造技术，这对美国和肯塔基州在能源技术方面具有全球竞争力至关重要。使用氧化锌纳米线载体的催化剂材料还将在深度加氢脱硫之外找到应用，例如利用合成气生产C1-C4酒精，以及甲醇的水蒸气重整。考虑到应用领域的数量，拟议催化剂的市场规模估计将超过10亿美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a new type of advanced hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalyst for deep desulfurization purposes. Specifically, metal nanoparticles supported on zinc oxide nanowires are proposed for creating higher performance, reactive adsorbent type HDS catalysts. HDS is a process used for the removal of sulfur from hydrocarbon fuels. In this process, fuels are treated with hydrogen gas in the presence of a catalyst. The environmental regulations are continuously pushing down the sulfur levels allowed in transportation fuels and will continue to lower the limits much below 10 ppm in future. Also, low sulfur concentrations are desirable for various fuel cell and refinery technologies where presence of small amounts of sulfur can poison the catalysts. The current, traditional HDS catalysts are efficient in removing the sulfur to levels down to around 20 ppm and leaves behind difficult-to-remove thiophenic sulfur compounds. In this project, an advanced catalyst and a scalable and cost-effective manufacturing is proposed that can accomplish deep desulfurization for lowering sulfur levels down well below 5 ppm. The broader/ commercial potential of this project will be improved air quality and energy/cost savings for the nation from improved durability of fuel cell and several refining technologies. The project's other outcome will also include new manufacturing technologies for advanced catalyst materials which is crucial for both the nation and the state of Kentucky to be globally competitive in terms of energy technologies. The catalyst materials using ZnO nanowire supports will also find applications beyond deep hydro-desulfurization such as C1-C4 alcohol production using syngas, and steam reforming of methanol. The market size for the proposed catalysts is estimated to exceed $1B considering the number of application areas.