Combating carbon footprint: novel reactor system converts carbon dioxide into usable fuel

Reducing carbon emissions from small-scale combustion systems, such as boilers and other industrial equipment, is a key step towards building a more sustainable, carbon-neutral future. Boilers are widely used across various industries for essential processes like heating, steam generation, and power production, making them significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Boilers are generally quite efficient. As a result, it is difficult to reduce CO₂ emissions simply by improving the combustion efficiency. Therefore, researchers are exploring alternative approaches to mitigating the environmental impact of CO₂ emissions from boilers. One promising strategy to this end is to capture the CO₂ emitted from these systems and convert it into a useful product, such as methane.

To implement this strategy, a specific type of membrane reactor, called the distributor-type membrane reactor (DMR), is needed that can facilitate chemical reactions as well as separate gases. While DMRs are used in certain industries, their application for converting CO₂ into methane, especially in small-scale systems like boilers, has remained relatively unexplored.

This research gap was addressed by a group of researchers from Japan and Poland, who were led by Professor Mikihiro Nomura from Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan and Prof. Grzegorz Brus from AGH University of Science and Technology in Poland. Their findings were published online on 17 April 2024 in Volume 82 of the Journal of CO2 Utilization.

The team conducted a two-pronged approach to the problem through numerical simulations and experimental studies to optimize the reactor designs for efficient conversion of CO₂ from small boilers into methane. In their simulation, the team modeled how gases flow and react under different conditions. In turn, this enabled them to minimize the temperature variations, ensuring that energy consumption is optimized while methane production remains dependable.

The team further found that, unlike traditional methods that channel gases into a single location, a distributed feed design could spread the gases out into the reactor instead of sending them in from one place. This, in turn, results in a better distribution of CO₂ throughout the membrane, preventing any location from overheating. “This DMR design helped us reduce temperature increments by about 300 degrees compared to the traditional packed bed reactor,” explains Prof. Nomura.

Beyond the distributed feed design, the researchers also explored other factors influencing the reactors efficiency and discovered that one key variable was the CO₂ concentration in the mixture. Changing the amount of CO₂ in the mixture affected how well the reaction worked. “When the CO₂ concentration was around 15%, similar to what comes out of the boilers, the reactor was much better at producing methane. In fact, it could produce about 1.5 times more methane compared to a regular reactor that only had pure CO₂ to work with,” highlights Prof. Nomura.

Additionally, the team investigated the impact of reactor size, finding that increasing the size of the reactor facilitated the availability of hydrogen for the reaction. There was, however, a tradeoff to be considered as the benefit of higher hydrogen availability required careful temperature management to avoid overheating.

The study thus presents a promising solution to the problem of tackling a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. By utilizing a DMR, low-concentration CO₂ emissions can be successfully converted into usable methane fuel. The benefits gained thereof are not limited to methanation alone but can also be applied to other reactions, making this method a versatile tool for efficient CO₂ utilization even for households and small factories.

 

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About Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), Japan

Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) is a private university with campuses in Tokyo and Saitama. Since the establishment of its predecessor, Tokyo Higher School of Industry and Commerce, in 1927, it has maintained “learning through practice” as its philosophy in the education of engineers. SIT was the only private science and engineering university selected for the Top Global University Project sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and had received support from the ministry for 10 years starting from the 2014 academic year. Its motto, “Nurturing engineers who learn from society and contribute to society,” reflects its mission of fostering scientists and engineers who can contribute to the sustainable growth of the world by exposing their over 9,500 students to culturally diverse environments, where they learn to cope, collaborate, and relate with fellow students from around the world.

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About Professor Mikihiro Nomura from SIT, Japan

Professor Mikihiro Nomura leads the Separation Systems Engineering Laboratory at Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. With a focus on ceramic membrane separation technology, Prof. Nomura aims to advance efficient separation processes for hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and wastewater, contributing to the realization of a carbon-neutral society. Through innovative approaches and a commitment to sustainability, he and his team strive to address pressing environmental challenges with cutting-edge engineering solutions.

 

Funding Information

This study was supported by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange under the Strategic Partnerships Programme, Project No. BPI/PST/2021/1/00023 (project title: Strategic cooperation with Japan in the field of Energy and Environmental Engineering) and partially by the “Excellence Initiative-Research University” program of the AGH University of Krakow, and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP23K04479.

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