Methane changes the game for catalytic materials scientists

By Russell Chianelli, The University of Texas at El Paso, Materials Research and Technology Institute

In a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Chemical Makers Ride Gas Boom,” the emergence of low cost natural gas is changing the way chemical companies seek to synthesize their products. Currently petrochemicals are made from petroleum feed stocks, and the price of petroleum continues to rise. At the same time natural gas has become more abundant and the price has decreased significantly in the past several years. These facts have caused companies such as Dow Chemical to seek to switch to natural gas for their products. Dow, Shell, and Cononco have decided to build new plants for processing natural gas.

These events offer opportunities for catalytic materials scientists to develop new catalytic materials and processes focused on natural gas for chemical synthesis.

1. D. Gilbert, “Chemical Makers Ride Gas Boom”, Wall Street Journal, B1, April 19, 2012.

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[Noemí Domínguez]

According to “BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2012” U.S currently is the world's largest gas natural producer and also can have enough of this gas for the next 100 years. The main component of natural gas is methane, which has the advantage of being cheaper than gasoline and other also emits less carbon dioxide when it’s burned. But methane is considered as “a powerful greenhouse gas and is about 21 times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2)”, EPA said.
I agree with Dr. Chianelli these facts mean opportunities to the catalytic materials community to develop new catalysts for burning this fuel because catalysts that are currently available for this purpose, are not capable of completely burning methane
leaving unburned methane escapes into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. “Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, along with collaborators from Italy and Spain, have created a material that catalyzes the burning of methane 30 times better than do currently available catalysts”. These new catalysts materials rely on cerium oxide (CeO2) and Palladium (Pd). They first built the palladium particles -- just 1.8 nanometers in diameter -- and then surrounded them with a protective porous shell made of cerium oxide, creating a collection of spherical structures with metallic cores.”

1. BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2012
2. University of Pennsylvania (2012, August 9). Cheaper and cleaner catalyst for burning methane. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120809141619.htm
3. U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). June 2010

[daisymae]

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