Project description
A new way for porous minerals to transform greenhouse gases
The history of zeolite science dates back to the 18th century when Swedish mineralogist and chemist Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt heated the mineral stilbite with a blowpipe flame. Scientists today are studying how the highly porous rocks called zeolites can help reduce carbon dioxide levels from factory smokestacks. Taking this a step further, the EU-funded ZeoMemRx project will use catalytically active, highly oriented zeolite ZSM-5 thin-films to create a prototype membrane reactor for the conversion of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) into liquid commodity chemicals, especially aromatics, while reducing emissions into the atmosphere. The project will seek intellectual property coverage through a patent application.
Objective
Both methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are greenhouse gases, but are available in large supply, and are often flared or vented. A promising strategy to efficiently utilize these abundant molecules is their transformation to easily transported liquid chemicals, which is particularly attractive because this conversion not only reduces emissions of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but also produces commodity chemicals that can be either used as fuels or as precursors for many industrial processes. We propose the fabrication of a prototype membrane reactor, containing catalytically active, highly oriented zeolite ZSM-5 thin-films for the conversion of CO2 and CH4. We have recently demonstrated a method for fabricating catalytically active, highly oriented thin-films of zeolite ZSM-5 on various dense substrates. In this Proof of Concept proposal, we will develop the fabrication of zeolite ZSM-5 thin-films on porous substrates to serve as membranes for catalysis and to convert CH4 and CO2 into liquid commodity chemicals, especially aromatics. The membranes will be incorporated into a prototype reactor, to be designed and implemented as part of the proposal, for reaction testing and optimization. Along with the experimental work we will create a market analysis and seek potential industrial partners, key to this will be pursuing intellectual property coverage through a patent application.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum PilotHost institution
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands