Chemical Engineering April 2016 - 7

Chementator
MOF-based adsorbents promise to cut costs for
capturing and storing flare gas
Crystalline PCN-250 lowers opex by 75%,
before introduction of localized electricity
Unprocessed natural gas
Tail gas
Separator
Oil to refinery
Oil & associated gas
A
Localized electricity
process for the separation and recovery
of stranded and associated
natural gas is being developed by
Framergy, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.;
www.framergy.com), with support from the
National Science Foundation's Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I
program. The company is developing a reusable,
transport-ready container to store
gas at low pressure with a low-cost metalorganic-framework
(MOF) adsorbent. This
will eliminate the need for expensive gascapture,
purification and multi-stage compression
systems in conventional methods,
and will utilize gas that is normally flared.
Framergy's unique MOF material is composed
of high-valence transition metal ions
(such as Al+3, Fe+3 and Cr+3), which provide
chemical stability under flare-gas conditions,
while delivering high working capacity when
used under pressure-swing cyclic operation,
explains Koray Ozdemir, vice president and senior
engineer at Framergy. The MOFs are based
A
scalable technology for allowing the
cost-effective manufacture of superhydrophobic
metallic coatings has
been demonstrated in the laboratory.
The method could have applications for
heat exchangers, condensers, high-temperature
and high-conductivity applications and
other types of equipment.
The startup company Maxterial Inc. (Richmond,
Calif.; www.maxterial.com) is working
to commercialize the technology, which was
originally conceived during the Ph.D. projects
of Maxterial co-founders Mehdi Kargar
and Atieh Haghdoost at Virginia Tech.
Maxterial uses a modified electroplating
process to create micro- and nano-scale
surface features on a variety of metals.
Using a chemical bath equipped with positive
and negative electrodes, the company
can control the deposition of surface feaLocalized
generator
Vehicle ANG
(adsorbed natural gas)
Framergy
on the so-called PCN-250 (porous coordinated
network), which was invented by Hong-Cai
Zhou, professor of chemistry at Texas A&M
University (College Station, Tex.; www.tamu.
edu). The company's high-alkane adsorbed
natural gas (trademarked, HAANG) technology
further improves the MOFs' working capacity
by alkane-based additives, which improves the
adsorbed-natural-gas (ANG) performance to a
level comparable to compressed-natural-gas
(CNG) systems, says Ozdemir.
The gas storage pressure needed for
Framergy's MOF-based system is 85% less
than that required by CNG systems, which
translates to lower capital (capex) and operational
(opex) investment for upstream
operators and service providers, says Ozdemir.
" Framergy's ANG should reduce
CNG capex by 10% and opex by 75%. "
The company plans to test the technology
at two oil wells in the Eagle Ford formation in
Tex. and the Bakken formation in N.D. The first
commercial application is anticipated for 2017.
A technique for making superhydrophobic metals
tures. The resulting microtextured surface
dramatically reduces the contact area for
the objects and droplets that contact the
metal surface, explains Kargar, so it repels
water. " By controlling the components of
the chemical bath and the manufacturing
parameters, we can make surfaces with a
variety of features, " he adds.
A critical aspect of the technology is that
it is designed to be integrated with existing
manufacturing infrastructure, says Haghdoost.
" This technology has a great potential
for scaleup, " she remarks.
Material scientists have demonstrated the
technology using a variety of metals, including
copper, zinc, nickel and chromium, and
have characterized the surface structure.
The company is now searching for strategic
partners for custom-designing surfaces for
specific applications.
Note: For more information, circle the 56-digit number on p. 94, or use the website designation.
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com april 2016
Gas hub
Residential
natural gas
Fe-Free HTS caTalyST
Last month at the Nitrogen
+ Syngas 2016 conference
(Berlin, Germany; February
29-March 3), Haldor Topsøe
A/S (Lyngby, Denmark;
www.topsoe.com) introduced
SK-501 Flex, a new
high-temperature shift (HTS)
catalyst with the unique ability
to operate at any steamto-carbon
ratio, allowing
producers to achieve record
plant efficiency in ammonia,
hydrogen and synthesis gas
(syngas) production.
" Producers get unique
flexibility with SK-501 Flex,
because it takes away the
minimum steam-to-carbon
requirement imposed by
conventional HTS catalysts, "
says Johan Jönsson,
product manager at Topsøe.
Without changing production
setup, the producer can
choose to keep production at
its current level, but save on
feedstock and energy costs
- or boost production by
up to 5%. For a large-scale
NH3 plant, the improvement
in revenue is approximately
$11 million/yr, or $57 million
over a typical catalyst lifetime, "
says Jönsson.
Instead of iron, the SK-501
Flex formulation is based on
zinc oxide and zinc aluminum
spinel that has been known
to catalyze the water-gas
shift reaction. The iron-free
formulation of SK-501 Flex
prevents formation of unwanted
iron carbides that reduce
the catalyst strength of
conventional Fe-based HTS
catalysts. Another major advantage
of the new formulation
is the complete absence
of chromium, most notably
the hazardous hexavalent
chromium found in all ironbased
HTS catalysts.
caTalyST guard
Also last month at the Nitrogen
+ Syngas 2016 conference
(see above), Clariant
(Continues on p. 8)
7
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey

http://www.topsoe.com http://www.tamu http://www.framergy.com http://www.maxterial.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com

Chemical Engineering April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering April 2016