Utilization of methane gas stranded in remote areas

Methane (CH₄) is the simplest hydrocarbon and is the principal component of natural gas. It is abundant throughout the world including significant reserves in the United States. The transportation of methane is difficult because it is a combustible gas and requires impractical and expensive gas pipelines and liquefaction stations. Currently methane is converted into more useful chemicals and fuels by costly and inefficient methods that require high temperatures and pressures. A direct process for conversion of methane into other valuable, portable chemicals would allow the use of untapped remote reserves of natural gas to be used as a primary source for fuels and chemicals. Our goal is to develop new organometallic catalysts that will directly transform methane into methanol or longer chain alkanes.

Chemicals and fuels from biomass

In order to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, we must develop energy-efficient, economically-viable alternatives based on our renewable resources. Our agriculture and forest resources represent domestic sources of biorenewables that can be used in the production of greenhouse-gas neutral polymers, fine chemicals, and clean fuels. To achieve this, complex, heavily functionalized bio-available materials must be reduced and converted to less complex, useful chemical feedstocks. Our goal is to develop catalytic processes for efficient conversion of biomass components such as lignin, cellulose, and carbohydrates into fuel and value-added chemicals.

Chemicals and fuels from CO₂ and electricity

A long-term approach to replacing our depending on fossil fuels involves generating chemicals and fuels from CO₂ and electricity. We are investigating the reduction of CO₂ to methanol, since this process could have an enormous impact on global energy consumption and CO₂ emissions: methanol can immediately be blended into gasoline, could be used alone as a convenient liquid fuel, and also serves as a feedstock for organic chemicals. This transformation requires hydrogen (or protons + electrons) to reduce C(+4) to the C(+1) oxidation state. Hence, we are also working towards well-defined catalysts for the sustainable generation of hydrogen from water.

Alkane metathesis and aromatization of alkanes

The interconversion of alkanes via alkane metathesis is a reaction with enormous potential utility, particularly in the context of Fischer-Tropsch chemistry, which yields a stochastic range of n-alkanes from carbon sources as diverse as coal, biomass, natural gas, or even CO₂. Fischer-Tropsch derived diesel (C₉-C₁₉ n-alkanes) is clean-burning and ca. 30% more efficient than gasoline. While C>19 n-alkanes can be hydrocracked to give a distribution of lower carbon numbers, the C₃-C₈ fraction is not directly useful as transportation fuel and requires upgrading. Alkane metathesis would allow the “upgrading” of these low carbon number n-alkanes (C₃-C₈) to higher carbon numbers. Successful homogeneous alkane metathesis was reported by CENTC in 2006 and our continued goal is to develop this discovery into a viable commercial process.

Aromatic hydrocarbons are among the most important building blocks in the chemical industry. For example, benzene, toluene and xylenes (“BTX”) are three of the “seven basic building blocks” of the chemical industry, and are currently largely produced from petroleum. New syntheses of aromatics is a critical target as petroleum reserves diminish and as decreased gasoline refining (in favor of diesel) limits production of BTX by-products. Our goal is the catalytic conversion of n-alkanes to alkylaromatics using molecular catalysts.

Improved synthesis of fine chemicals