EFRI DCheM: Engineering Interfaces between Plasma, Catalysts, and Reactor Design for Natural Gas Conversion to Liquid Products

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Traditional large-scale chemical plants and refineries rely heavily on high-temperature catalysis to transform hydrocarbon feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. Such processes carry high energy demands, which are typically provided by natural gas combustion with a large associated generation of CO2. This project investigates an alternative approach – plasma catalysis – that can be powered by renewable electricity and engineered to enable distributed production of chemicals and liquid fuels from otherwise stranded and flared natural gas. This project combines researchers at Princeton University, University of South Carolina, and Stanford University with expertise in catalysis, plasma physics and chemistry, and nanomanufacturing with national laboratories and industry to provide a variety of research and educational initiatives that will nurture future U.S. leaders and innovators in energy and engineering sciences and technology. The project is supported by a broadening participation plan to attract underrepresented minority (URM) students (e.g. high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students) for summer on-campus learning programs, industrial internships, and thesis research. Such emphasis aligns with the team’s educational goal of creating a pipeline in science and engineering for students from high school through college and advanced degrees. Further, collaborations with national laboratories and industry and the formation of the Center Advisory Board and Industrial Consortium will facilitate the innovation and technology transfer to market. Renewable electricity from solar and wind provides unprecedented opportunities for distributed reactors using low-temperature, non-equilibrium atmospheric misty plasma catalysis. The overarching project goal is to investigate the plasma-assisted catalytic conversion of methane to higher-order liquid hydrocarbons and oxygenated fuels and chemicals. Key challenges addressed are: (i) understanding non-equilibrium energy transfer and transformation of matters in plasma catalysis; (ii) identifying methods to stabilize plasma without impacting its efficiency; (iii) coordination between plasma properties and catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability in chemical conversion; (iv) development of experimentally validated, predictive kinetic and transport models for novel plasma catalysts and reactor co-design; and (v) elucidating reactor design and manufacturing criteria that optimize plasma and catalyst integration. The studies will advance fundamental understanding of plasma catalysis by conducting advanced laser diagnostics of non-equilibrium plasma properties, excited states, and chemistry, and by developing experimentally validated predictive multiscale modeling tools for plasma chemistry and transformation of matter in plasma catalysis. Moreover, elements of hybrid plasma control, catalyst design, and additive manufacturing will be employed to develop an innovative micro-aerosol plasma catalytic reactor (MAPCAR) as a modular device to enable efficient and selective conversion of abundant feedstocks such as stranded natural gas and CO2, to liquid fuels and oxygenated chemical precursors. Time-resolved simultaneous plasma properties and chemistry diagnostics will be employed to enhance fundamental understanding of the non-equilibrium plasma states, energy transfer, chemical kinetics, and transformation of matters in plasma-catalysis. The data will be used to develop and experimentally validate models and multiscale plasma catalysis modeling tools for MAPCAR optimization. The research will not only advance the scientific understanding of the elementary physical and chemical processes in plasma catalysis, but also develop a new predictive tool for plasma catalysis design, new control methods for achieving uniform atmospheric plasma, and new techniques to manufacture distributed plasma catalytic reactors for chemical processing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.