Applications

Natural Gas as a Cleaner and Greener Alternative to Petroleum

Natural gas is the world's next great source of fuel and the most certain way to achieve energy security. Although found in abundant supply at affordable prices in the U.S. and throughout the world, natural gas must first be processed into transportation fuels and other valuable products before they can be used in the existing infrastructure.

We are developing two versions of our breakthrough catalyst that can reduce the cost of reforming natural gas into synthetic gas (syngas), the most costly step in making products from natural gas.

Steam Reforming - One version of our catalyst can be used as a drop-in replacement for existing steam reforming catalyst to reduce the cost and increase the production of syngas, primarily for the production of hydrogen and methanol.
Dry Reforming - Another version of our catalyst can be used with captured CO2 or high CO2 content natural gas to make syngas.

Hydrogen, Methanol & Other Products

Steam reforming of natural gas to syngas is the primary method for making valuable, large volume products, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia, solvents, plastics and detergent alcohols. Our highest priority is developing a drop-in replacement catalyst to increase the output and lower the cost of steam reforming. Minimal equipment and plant changes will be needed by existing operators to use the steam reforming version of our catalyst.

Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) for Transportation Fuels

GTL technology offers the best solution to meet the increasing demand for liquid transportation fuels. The GTL market is still developing and represents our most significant long-term market opportunity. Steam reforming of natural gas is the preferred method of producing syngas for small to mid-sized GTL plants. We are targeting this market segment as a drop-in replacement opportunity for the steam reforming version of our catalyst.

Dry Reforming

The dry reforming version of our catalyst can be used with captured CO2 or high CO2 content natural gas to make syngas and is the most cost-effective way to make syngas for the production of liquid fuels. Our catalyst may be able to achieve a 20% to 30% capital cost advantage over the alternatives because dry reforming is a simpler process, does not require an oxygen plant, uses small amounts of steam and has high conversion efficiency.