Controlling catalytic microcombustors as heat or chemicals machines
This integrated research program will aid development of a new power generation technology that could eventually lead to replacement of existing batteries and production of chemicals from traditional hydrocarbon feedstocks and renewables. This program will elucidate the fundamentals that can enable the efficient utilization of catalytic microcombustion for diverse end use applications, such as heat sources for warmth, coupled combustor/reactor to drive endothermic reactions. One use would be producing controlled amounts of chemicals on demand, while another would be to produce hydrogen for proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cells. This will be achieved by the integration of hierarchical multiscale simulation with experiments in tunable, high-surface-area catalytic microburners without movable parts.
This program could lead to technology that would eliminate the environmental burden of dealing with acid-based batteries and the logistics of recycling or using partially used batteries and recharging as well as bypass the thermal NOx production of combustion processes. Furthermore, the understanding gained from this work could assist in the commercialization of short contact time catalytic reactor technology transforming larger alkanes or biomass-based chemicals to olefins, which are key starting chemicals in the polymer industry. As part of this project, surface reaction mechanisms in Chemkin format and a tutorial on thermodynamic consistency of catalytic reactions will be disseminated via the web.
