ammonia cracking with starfire’s catalyst · 2019-12-10 · ammonia energy conference, november...
TRANSCRIPT
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1Ammonia Energy Conference, November 12, 2019
Ammonia Cracking with Starfire’s Catalyst
Adam Welch, PhD
Ammonia Energy Conference, November 12, 2019
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Starfire’s Proprietary Catalyst Ru nano-islands on Ba2CaAl2O6 (B2CA)
TEM image by Dr. Chris Cadigan, Colorado School of Mines
➔ Good Performance compared to other powders
➔ High pressure drop➔ Low Thermal Conductivity
Powder
Pellets
Metallic Monolith
➔ Good Performance compared to other pellets
➔ Medium pressure drop➔ Low Thermal Conductivity
➔ Great Performance➔ Very Low pressure drop➔ High Thermal Conductivity
P patents pending on all morphologies
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Cobalt on B2CA also performs well
● Higher loadings of more abundant Co and Co-oxide approach performance of Ru
● Advantage of Co-oxide washes out at very high weight loading
NH3EquilibriumConcentration
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Co vs. Ru Costs for Similar Performance
Co0.04 $/g
Ru7.91 $/g
15wt% Co on 10g oxide supportMetal cost: $0.05
3wt% Ru on 10g oxide supportMetal cost: $2.37
45X
Metal prices from Infomine.com
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Ammonia Cracking Setup
NH3
Ceramic Fiber Tube Heater
(cross section)
H2 Sensor
NH3 + H2
Main Reactor Body
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Cracker Main Reactor Body● High flow requires low pressure drop
in reactor
● Good catalyst contact with gasses
● Good heat transport from heat source to catalyst/gas surface
● Commercially available, vendor supplied part
● Reactor Volume 200 mL, mostly void space
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Main Reactor Catalyst Coating Process● Weight of catalyst: 4 grams
● Geometric surface area estimate: 460 cm2
● 9 mg/cm2
● Coating stable after 50+ heat cycles: 200 - 620C
1) Bare Monolith
2) Coating of B2CA oxide support
3) Coating of Ru or Co metal solution
4) Reduction of metal compound
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Catalyst on Metallic Monolith for NH3 cracking
● Cracking occurs at 1 atm
● Vol./Vol. Space Velocity, 300 hr-1 GHSV
● Residence Time, 12 seconds
● g/g Space Velocity, 11.4 hr-1 WHSV
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Pushing to Higher Flow and Power● Max GHSV: 4200 hr-1
● Residence time: 0.8 seconds
● Max WHSV: 160 hr-1
● Max Ammonia Flow: 630 g/hr
Flame Instability at 14 sLm(fuel rich)
➔ 4 grams catalyst➔ $0.02 Metal➔ 200 mL reactor
3.3 kW11,000 BTU/hr
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Catalyst Durability
● 90 hours, stable performance● 1 sLm flow rate● 550 C (partial cracking)● Slight performance Improvement after
90 hours
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Scaling from 3.3kW to Industrial Heat (44kW+)
State of Colorado Grant to scale process to a Honeywell Eclipse Thermjet
https://choosecolorado.com/6-1-million-advanced-industries-awards-fuel-27-colorado-start-ups/
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● Inexpensive transition metal can be substituted for PGM metal
● Developed ideal Metallic Monolith reactor
● Catalyst cracks at lower temps, higher flows
● Scaling to possible direct NH3 industrial heating
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Acknowledgments
● Prof. Ryan O’Hayre, Dr. Chris Cadigan, Dr. Micheal Sanders at Colorado School of Mines
➔ Work funded by US DOE ARPA-e, grant # DE-AR0000685
➔ DOE SBIR, grant# DE-SC0019846
➔ State of Colorado Office of Economic Development (OEDIT) grant# CTGG1 19-3593