Carbon Dioxide Conversion Through Tri-Reforming:  Reactor/Process Design and Optimization

Conversion of CO₂ into valuable products is developing as a promising technology for reduction of exogenous CO₂ contributions in the atmosphere.  According to the International Energy Agency, the total worldwide CO₂ produced in 2007 was approximately 3.2 x 10¹⁰ tons.  Although capture and storage technologies have been well studied in recent years, they are costly due to separation of CO₂ and steam using amine-type absorbers.  Since governmental regulations are likely to require fewer CO₂ emissions by industry, it is necessary to explore economical solutions to the CO₂ problem.  One avenue to combat the growing release of CO₂ into the atmosphere is to convert it to useful chemicals via tri-reforming.  Tri-reforming is the conversion of carbon dioxide, methane, and water to produce syngas without the separation of CO₂ and steam.  Through careful catalyst design, a novel catalyst has been synthesized using reverse micelles to create highly active nano-sized NiSn particles onto metal-oxide supports.  These catalysts have been characterized and tested in our laboratory.  Subsequently, a process design using ASPEN simulation has been developed to efficiently convert CO₂.