LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 20d

Description

New technologies are needed convert carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals, fuels, polymers, building materials, and other carbon-based products. The profitable production of valuable chemical feedstocks from carbon dioxide waste streams can improve the efficiency and productivity of many domestic industries while reducing overall carbon dioxide emissions. Conventional gas conversion technologies cannot enable many of the processes that would significantly improve fuel and chemical processing industries and so potentially useful carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere. New, plasma- based gas processing technologies are needed that can enable and support these new processes for critical industrial advancements. Together, Luna Innovation and Atmospheric Plasma Solutions will develop a process and prototype plasma reactor to convert low quality (carbon dioxide rich) natural gas streams into high value hydrocarbon liquids. The proposed process has been selected based upon criteria that include the production of high value liquids with large market sizes while requiring the least amount of energy and infrastructure. The plasma reactor will be based on the PlasmaBlastTM platform by Atmospheric Plasma Solutions, which is the first commercially mature atmospheric plasma system to meet the operational parameter (high pressure, high frequency, power input, flow rate, and scalability) requirements for effective gas processing. Luna will collaborate with Atmospheric Plasma Solutions to integrate the PlasmaBlast platform into a complete prototype reactor to demonstrate technical and commercial feasibility. The Phase I prototype that Luna will construct will include feedstock control, product collection, a recycle loop, and automated process control and monitoring. The performance of the process will be determined as a function of energy and feedstock input parameters as well as product yield and purity. In partnership with Trimeric Corporation, a techno-economic analysis will be developed for the process to quantify the projected profitability, efficiency, and other benefits of a pilot scale reactor.The commercial application of the proposed process will enable profitable carbon capture and use. This process could be applied to carbon dioxide captured from the flue gases of fossil fuel power plants. Alternatively, this process could be applied directly to existing streams of natural gas containing high levels of carbon dioxide to capture the carbon dioxide as high value liquids. The plasma reactor could be used as a relatively independent system capable of processing of low quality or sour natural gas, coalbed methane, biogas, landfill gas, or other gas streams and would not necessarily be dependent upon carbon dioxide captured by conventional technologies.