B. Fossil-Based Production
1. Large-Scale Gasification
a) Design
i. Multiple feedstocks
ii. Multiple products
iii. Advanced concepts
b) Oxygen Separation Technologies for Reforming
Goals: Efficiency, Impurity tolerance
i. Air separation
ii. Integrated oxygen membrane/reactor systems
iii. Catalysts
iv. Materials
v. Ceramic-metal seals
c) Gas Separation and Clean-up Technologies
Goals: Cost, Efficiency, Durability
Description: for feed into reforming operations
i. Hot-gas clean-up
ii. Tar-cracking
iii. Measurement devices
iv. Medium-temperature sorbents
v. Integrated processes
vi. Gas polishing
vii. Membrane test methods and standards
d) Water-Gas Shift Technologies
i. Alternative CO shift pathways
ii. Catalysts
Goals: Efficiency, Impurity tolerance
a. Transient femtosecond infrared spectroscopy
Description: Identify transient chemical species on different catalytic surfaces to improve reaction efficiency.
b. Combinatorial screening using FTIR imaging
Description: Rapid noble-metal/metal-oxide preparation methods for high number, parallel monitoring of catalysts in small volumes.
iii. High-temperature membranes
Description: Requires no added catalyst.
iv. Single-step shift
Description: WGS integrated with hydrogen separation
e) Materials
i. Acidic or basic processes
ii. High-temperature processing
iii. Low-temperature processing
f) Hydrogen purification
i. Membranes
Goals: Temperature insensitivity, high-volume fabrication systems
ii. Advanced concepts
2. CO2 Separation, Capture, and Sequestration
a) Membranes
b) Physical sorbents
c) Chemical sorbents
d) Electrochemical pumps
e) Advanced separations
f) Storage optimization
3. Distributed Production from Natural Gas or Liquid Fuels
Description: Small-scale, low-volume
Goals - Cost, Efficiency, Selectivity, Durability
a) Fuel-flexible reformers
b) Water-gas shift technology
Goal: Robustness over a wide range of operating conditions
i. Multi-step processes
ii. Single step shift with integral hydrogen separation
iii. Demonstrate proprietary reactor for one-step H2 production and separation.
c) Hydrogen separation technology
Goal: Purity sufficient for PEM fuel cells; Optimize trade-off between reformate purity and energy consumption in integrated hydrogen production/fueling system (e.g., different degrees of purity for PEM fueling vs. supply for a high-temperature fuel cell).
d) Thermal integration of system components
e) Alternative designs
Goal: Operational flexibility; Low assembly, installation, and maintenance costs
i. Remote facility monitoring
f) Cost-benefit comparison of liquid fuels to natural gas
i. ethanol
ii. methanol
iii. sorbitol
iv. naphtha
g) Operations and Maintenance
Goal: Reduce labor costs and spare parts requirements
i. Remote facility monitoring
h) Water purity
Goal: Develop water purification systems that are inexpensive, effective, and durable.
i) Carbon sequestration
Goal: Develop cost-effective, small-scale carbon sequestration technologies.
j) Control strategies Goal: Maximize efficiency, reduce emissions, minimize cost.
k) Thermodynamic analysis
Description: Develop a predictive model for thermodynamic properties for hydrogen production, including pressure, volume, temperature, heat capacity, viscosity, and thermal conductivity, of hydrogen + hydrocarbon (methane, ethane...) + CO2 + alkanol (methanol, ethanol....) + water mixtures.
4. On-Board Reformers
Description: 10-50-kW, fuel-flexible, including reformer, shift reactors, sulfur removal beds, CO cleanup systems, sensors, and controls. Description: Develop a highly reliable and low-cost fuel-processing system for stationary PEMFC applications. (2002)
Goal: Reduce cost, Minimize start-up time, Reduced maintenance
a) Reactor design
i. Parallel reactor warm-up
ii. Materials
b) Catalysts
Goal: Reduce cost; Improve activity, curability under automotive operating conditions
i. Reforming catalysts
ii. Desulfurization catalysts
iii. Preferential catalysts
iv. Non-precious metal catalysts
c) Preferential oxidation systems
Goal: Reduce CO from the fuel processor stream under steady state and transient operation
d) Components
i. Compact steam generators
ii. Anode tail-gas burners
iii. Fuel pre-heaters
iv. Compact heat exchangers
e) Microchannels, plate reactors
f) Alternative fuel processing techniques
g) Waste heat minimization
h) Testing
i. Steady-state operation
ii. Transient operation
i) Hydrogen purification
Goal: Reduce CO to less than 10 ppm (< 100 ppm during transients) and remove other impurities and dilutants.
j) Design
Goal: Use lower-cost materials.
5. Synthesized Liquid Fuels
a) Computational chemistry to identify optimal, hydroge-rich formulations
b) Distributed production technologies
6. Demonstrations
a) FutureGen clean coal power plant
Description: The DOE FutureGen initiative involves construction of a 275-MW coal-power plant that will produce both electricity and hydrogen and will achieve near-zero emissions of carbon dioxide and noxious air pollutants by using carbon sequestration technologies. The plant will use the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle process, in which the coal’s carbon is converted to a “synthesis gas” made up primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas is then reacted with steam to produce additional hydrogen and a concentrated stream of CO2, at least 90% of which is captured for sequestration. The captured CO2 will be separated from the hydrogen, perhaps by high-efficiency membranes currently under development. Initially, the hydrogen produced by the plant will be used as a clean fuel for electric power generation either in turbines, fuel cells or hybrid combinations of these technologies. The hydrogen could also be supplied as a feedstock for refineries. In the future, as hydrogen-powered automobiles and trucks are developed as part of the President’s Hydrogen Fuels Initiative, the plant could be a source of transportation-grade hydrogen fuel. The project will require 10 - 15 years to complete and will be led by an industrial consortium representing the coal and power industries.
b) Fueling station
Description: Incorporate promising technologies into an integrated H2 production, building power, and fueling system, at distributed locations (see V.D.2 for a complete description).
Goal: Evaluate efficiency, durability, and gain real-world experience.
i. Natural gas feedstock
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