(553b) Syngas Production on Thermally Conductive SiC Catalyst

A new catalyst support technology has been developed to increase the thermal conductivity of a steam reforming catalyst system. The technology (HeatPath^TM) is designed to improve the heat transfer of the catalysts during the production of hydrogen from hydrocarbons. By allowing heat to move easily into the reaction zone, the new catalyst system reduces the amount of heat that must be generated, significantly lowering the cost of hydrogen produced.

The core technical achievement of this study is the feasibility validation of the high thermal conductivity supports with protective coating, and a washcoated catalyst layer on an application-suitable geometry. Packed-bed silicon carbide (SiC), along with structured metal foams and metal monoliths were all evaluated in the early stage to confirm the suitability of the coating processes and performance as steam reforming catalysts. Both metal and SiC supports showed promise for steam reforming reactions, though SiC has significant advantages in cost, weight and mechanical strength. Nexceris has optimized the integration of washcoated catalysts and protective layers on high thermal conductivity SiC supports. Testing has been performed to assess long term performance stability and to confirm agreement between the experimental and modeling results.

Through computational simulation of steam reformer operation, Nexceris determined that the best path for and reducing cost of syngas from natural gas is to reduce heat loss in the reformer. The identified approach was to establish coating technology that will enable the use of high thermal conductivity catalyst supports. Combining a protective coating technology and catalyst formulations designed for the reforming of natural gas, the HeatPath^TM platform offers three times better heat transfer than conventional catalyst support materials, which will reduce energy consumption during syngas production by more than 15 percent.

Results of our modeling and experiment work suggest that these newly developed supported catalysts will provide a leap forward in the design of hydrogen production systems.