Producing Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide Gases from Greenhouse Gases... UNIST Professor Kim Geontae's Team Develops Catalyst Technology for Synthesizing Gas

Conceptual Diagram of Syngas Catalyst Technology_Research image of catalyst concept used to synthesize hydrogen or carbon monoxide by utilizing greenhouse gases.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Dooyul] A ‘syngas catalytic technology’ that produces useful gases such as hydrogen or carbon monoxide using greenhouse gases has been developed. It also meets several conditions for commercialization, increasing the possibility of commercial use.

Professor Kim Geontae’s team from the Department of Energy Chemical Engineering at UNIST developed a ‘better catalytic technology’ that converts carbon dioxide and methane into useful syngas such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

The catalyst’s syngas conversion efficiency is over 95%, and it can operate for 1,000 hours without the need for other gases previously injected to enhance performance.

Professor Kim Geontae said, “There have been several attempts to convert greenhouse gases into hydrogen, but commercialization repeatedly failed due to the lack of suitable catalysts. Since this research meets all the requirements for commercialization, the process is expected to accelerate.”

Syngas refers to gas resources obtained through chemical synthesis rather than mining. The syngas market was valued at 60 trillion KRW in 2022 and is expected to reach 88 trillion KRW by 2028.

Although market demand is rapidly increasing, core technologies are held by foreign companies, making localization difficult.

Recently, major domestic companies have felt the importance of syngas and are preparing to enter the syngas market.

Professor Kim explained, “The developed technology will serve as a significant foothold for attempts to localize syngas technology. A major feature is the large-scale utilization of carbon dioxide, a main cause of global warming, in syngas production.”

The research team finely adjusted the iron content of the catalyst and discovered an optimized catalyst, LCFN55, which exhibits excellent reactivity and high stability.

The new catalyst is primarily composed of transition metals based on iron and nickel and contains no precious metals, making it inexpensive.

The nickel component appears as high-density nanoparticles on the surface of a perovskite support, rather than in bulk form as before. This prevents nickel particles from clustering or moving on the catalyst surface, maintaining reactivity.

Previously, to maintain reactivity, dilution gases such as nitrogen, argon, helium, or steam were injected along with methane and carbon dioxide.

However, adding such processes or the subsequent costs of gas separation resulted in significant commercial disadvantages.

The research team solved this problem using a ‘smart self-regeneration (exsolution)’ technique, where nickel particles inside the catalyst spontaneously emerge on the surface.

New nickel nanoparticles regenerate on the catalyst surface, allowing the catalyst’s performance to be maintained for a long time.

First author Researcher Oh Jinkyung explained, “Nickel metal-based catalysts previously used showed excellent initial performance, but at high temperatures, catalyst particles clump together, and repeated reactions cause solid carbon to accumulate on the catalyst surface, reducing reactivity. The catalyst developed this time solves this problem by utilizing the ‘exsolution phenomenon’ of nickel particles.”

Professor Kim Geontae said, “To produce syngas and hydrogen stably and cost-effectively through methane dry reforming, catalyst activity and stability, as well as a process without dilution gases, must be supported. This research developed a catalyst material that simultaneously satisfies these conditions and will greatly contribute to the commercialization of methane dry reforming.”

Professor Han Jungwoo from the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH also participated in the research. The research results were published online on the 30th as a rapid communication in ‘Angewandte Chemie International Edition,’ a world-renowned journal in the field of chemistry, and are forthcoming in print.

From the left, Professor Kim Geontae and Researcher Oh Jinkyeong.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.