Plasma-Assisted Catalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide and Propane to Propylene and Carbon Monoxide

Susteon Inc., in partnership with North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Newcastle University (NU), will develop a catalytic non-thermal plasma (CNTP) technology utilizing carbon dioxide (CO2) as a soft-oxidant and novel metallic/bi-metallic catalysts to produce ethylene and propylene from ethane and propane, respectively. The key step in this conversion process is the plasma-assisted catalytic conversion of CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen radicals at very mild operating conditions. The oxygen radicals subsequently react with ethane and propane and break the C-H bonds in alkanes to selectively form ethylene and propylene, respectively, through well-known oxydehydrogenation (ODH) chemistry. The project is aimed at adapting a commercial ozone reactor design to produce commercial quantities of ethylene/propylene in a modular configuration at competitive costs with negative CO2 footprint. The project activities include: (1) catalyst preparation, characterization, and testing to achieve maximum alkene yield and catalyst stability; (2) plasma reactor design and setup; (3) experimental testing of the plasma-assisted catalytic CO2-ODH process under parametric conditions with and without catalyst; (4) process modeling; (5) long-term testing to assess the stability of dielectric barrier discharge plasma and catalyst performance and; (6) techno-economic and life cycle analyses. NCSU will perform catalyst synthesis, testing, and optimization. NU will lead the plasma reactor and test system design, modification and construction, and CO2-ODH reaction testing and optimization.