Dr. Jianli Hu
Chair Professor and the Director of Center for Innovation in Gas Research and Utilization at West Virginia University, USA
Title: Challenges in Direct, Non-Oxidative Conversion of Shale Gas to Chemicals
Biography
Biography: Dr. Jianli Hu
Abstract
In the United States and the rest of the world, there are abundant shale gas resources which are either physically or economically stranded. Commercially, natural gas conversion to chemicals is based on an indirect conversion route via syngas, followed by subsequent conversion processes (methanol plus MTG process, or Fischer-Tropsch and product refining). The indirect conversion processes are very capital intensive, and less energy efficient. This presentation emphasizes the direct conversion of natural gas constituents (C1-C3) into aromatics and olefins using transition metal promoted ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts. Catalyst activity, selectivity, deactivation and regeneration of metal-promoted ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts will be discussed. We will introduce a new approach that employs non-thermal plasma to intensify catalytic reaction for natural gas conversion. Under low reaction severity, this approach synergistically integrates plasma reaction chemistry with novel heterogeneous catalysis that decouples methane activation from a catalytic surface reaction, shifting rate-determining step from methane activation (cracking C-H bond) to surface C-C formation. One of the focus areas of the research is to elucidate the deactivation mechanism of Ga-Pt prompted HZSM-5 and investigate the feasibility of regenerating deactivated catalysts for commercial viability.