THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FOR A BIOBASED INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1012495
• Multistate No.: S-1041
• Project Start Date: Apr 13, 2017
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2018
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762

Performing Department
Agricultural & Biological Engineering

Non Technical Summary
The southeastern United States could produce enough biomass feedstocks (such as woody crops, lignite) to help establishAmerica's energy independence. The conversion of this biomass to liquid hydrocarbons and/or other chemicals could make biofulescompetitive as an inexpensive biofuel source if new, more efficient catalysts can be identified. If the proper catalysts canbe developed, one dry tonne of biomass feedstocks or lignite could produce 20-40 gallons of biofuels.

Animal Health Component

30%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

30%

Developmental

20%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
402	0650	2020	100%

Knowledge Area
402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
0650 - Wood and wood products;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

biomass

synthesis gas

biogas

biofuels

catalysts

Goals / Objectives
Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. Develop modeling and systems approaches to support development of sustainable biomass production and conversion to bioenergy and bioproducts. Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy

Project Methods
Determine the effect of lab-sacle and/or scale-up issues that develop in the process of making liquid fuel from biomass feedstocks, determine effects of contamination in syngas and/or biogas to catalysts, determine what preparation is needed for the biogas and/or syngas so that catalytic conversion to liquid fuels can be performed, determine effects of various operating parameters on biogas, producer gas composition, and assess methods of reducing contaminates in biogas and/or syngas. Additional biomass feedstocks (such as lignite coal and natural gas) will be secured, evaluated, and processed to evaluate handling and storage methods, material composition, and producer gas yield and quality. Biomass properties to be determined include physical dimensions, moisture content and chemical characteristics. Injecting steam and oxygen into the burning chamber of the gasifier to lower the nitrogen content of the syngas and in an effort to increase the hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The research will address many factors including ease of stand development, sustainable biomass yields, economics of production, and feedstock quality. Enterprise budgets will be used to determine production costs of dedicated agricultural biomass production activities.

Progress 04/13/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this research includes private commercial growers and manufacturers of bioenergyand other researcher or scientists in the field of biomass conversion into liquid transportation fuels. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We are still working with local private company to scale up the current bioprocessing in irder to commercialization. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Dr. Fei Yu's Bioenergy Research Group at Mississippi had continue to investigate the real biogas purification process and catalytic conversion for liquid fuels production. We designed nickel based catalysts for methane dry reforming, natural gas reforming, and real biogas reforming with addition of carbon dioxide for syngas production. The biogas based syngas could be used for liquid biofuel production. We also continued to screen iron based catalysts for aromatic-rich gasoline range liquid hydrocarbon production during catalytic conversion of syngas. The syngas conversion to higher alcohols was also addressed for the integrated biomass to biofuel conversion process.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bao, Z., Y. Zhan, J. Street, W. Xu, F. To, and F. Yu. 2017. Insight into the phase evolution of NiMgAl catalyst from reduction to post-reaction for dry reforming of methane. Chemical Communications. 53: 6001-6004.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lu, Y., R. Zhang, B. Cao, B. Ge, F. Tao, J. Shan, L. Nguyen, Z. Bao, T. Wu, J. Pote, B. Wang, and F. Yu. 2017. Elucidating the Copper - Hagg Iron Carbide Synergistic Interactions for Selective CO Hydrogenation to Higher Alcohols. ACS Catalysis. 7: 5500?5512.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Han, J., L. Zhang, Y. Lu, J. Hu, B. Cao, and F. Yu. 2017. The Effect of Syngas Composition on the Fischer Tropsch Synthesis over Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macro-porous Iron Based Catalyst. Molecular Catalysis. 440: 175-183.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Han, J., Y. Liang, J. H, L. Qin, J. Street, Y. Lu, and F. Yu. 2017. Modeling downdraft biomass gasification process by restricting chemical reaction equilibrium with Aspen Plus. Energy Conversion and Management. 153: 641-648.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Dou, J., Z. Bao, and F. Yu. 2018. Mesoporous Ni(OH)2/CeNixOy composites derived Ni/CeNixOy catalysts for dry reforming of methane. ChemCatChem. 10: 250-258.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Han, J., Y. Zhan, J. Street, F. To, and F. Yu. 2017. Natural Gas Reforming of Carbon Dioxide for Syngas over Ni-Ce-Al Catalysts. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 42: 18364 e18374.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Zhan, Y., J. Han, Z. Bao, B. Cao, Y. Li, J. Street, and F. Yu. 2017. Biogas Reforming of Carbon Dioxide to Syngas Production over Ni-Mg-Al Catalysts. Molecular Catalysis. 436: 248-258.

Progress 04/13/17 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for this work includes manufacturers from biofuels industry and other scientists in the field of biogas conversion into liquid fuels. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In this period, two postdocs and two research associates have been trained for catalyst development for catalytic conversion of biogas to hydrocarbon fuels. In this period, one Ph.D. student has being trained for biogas cleaning, biogas reforming and syngas conversion process control. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? A continuous process system was established for biogas to liquid hydrocarbons fuel including raw biogas cleaning/purification, cleaned biogas reforming, and syngas catalytic conversion. This system was introduced to the undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers and/or scientists from Mississippi State University and other different institutes and organization through lab tours and research seminars. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We are participating in the USDA Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) project collaborating with Ohio State University, University of Georgia and industry collaborators. We already set up a continuous process for biogas conversion into liquid hydrocarbon. Assess the operation variables of the real biogas reforming process A lab-scale continuous process system including raw biogas cleaning/purification, cleaned biogas reforming, and syngas catalytic conversion was installed to demonstrate biogas-to-liquid (BTL) fuels technology. Nickel-based catalysts for Catalytic Reforming of Real Biogas to Syngas Based on the previous study of pure methane dry reforming, nickel-based catalysts were also utilized for the natural gas and real biogas reforming process. The core-shell Nickel based nanoparticles were prepared and were carried out to evaluate the catalytic activity of both natural gas and raw biogas reforming to syngas. These carbon-encapsulated nickel-core nanoparticles had high activity for catalytic conversion. CO2 conversion rate can be as high as over 85%. Catalytic performance for syngas to liquid fuels. Both iron based and three dimensional ordered macroporous copper based catalysts were utilized for liquid hydrocarbon and alcohols production. And the research results were already published by several peer reviewed journals as well.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Han, J., L. Zhang, Y. Lu, J. Hu, B. Cao, and F. Yu. 2017. The Effect of Syngas Composition on the Fischer Tropsch Synthesis over Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macro-porous Iron Based Catalyst. Molecular Catalysis. 440: 175183.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dou, J., Z. Bao, and F. Yu. 2017. Mesoporous Ni(OH)2/CeNixOy composites derived Ni/CeNixOy catalysts for dry reforming of methane. ChemCatChem. DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201701073
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lu, Y., R. Zhang, B. Cao, B. Ge, F. Tao, J. Shan, L. Nguyen, Z. Bao, T. Wu, J. Pote, B. Wang, and F. Yu. 2017. Elucidating the Copper - Hagg Iron Carbide Synergistic Interactions for Selective CO Hydrogenation to Higher Alcohols. ACS Catalysis. 7: 5500?5512.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bao, Z., Y. Zhan, J. Street, W. Xu, F. To, and F. Yu. 2017. Insight into the phase evolution of NiMgAl catalyst from reduction to post-reaction for dry reforming of methane. Chemical Communications. 53: 6001-6004.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Zhan, Y., J. Han, Z. Bao, B. Cao, Y. Li, J. Street, and F. Yu. 2017. Biogas Reforming of Carbon Dioxide to Syngas Production over Ni-Mg-Al Catalysts. Molecular Catalysis. 436: 248-258.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Han, J., Y. Zhan, J. Street, F. To, and F. Yu. 2017. Natural Gas Reforming of Carbon Dioxide for Syngas over Ni-Ce-Al Catalysts. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 42: 18364 e18374.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lu, Y., Q. Yan, J. Han, B. Cao, J. Street, and F. Yu. 2017. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of olefin-rich liquid hydrocarbons from biomass-derived syngas over carbon-encapsulated iron carbide/iron nanoparticles catalyst. Fuel. 193: 369-384.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bao, Z., Y. Lu, and F. Yu. 2017. Kinetic Study of Methane Reforming with Carbon Dioxide over NiCeMgAl Bimodal Pore Catalyst. AIChE Journal. 63: 20192029.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Street, J., F. Yu, Q. Yan, J. Wooten, E. Columbus, and E. Hassan. 2016. Pilot-Plant Production of Gas-to-Liquid Synthetic Fuel Using Gasified Biomass over a Novel Biochar-Supported Catalyst. Transactions of the ASABE. 59(6): 1485-1496.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Bao, Z., Lu, Y., Zhan, Y., and Yu. F. 2017. The Kinetics of Dry Reforming of Methane over Ni15CeMgAl Catalyst. 25th North American Catalysis Society Meeting. Denver, CO. June 4-9, 2017. Poster Presentation.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Zhan, Y., Z. Bao, J. Han, Y. Lu, F. To, and Yu. F. 2017. Raw biogas reforming to produce syngas over NiMgAl catalysts. 25th North American Catalysis Society Meeting. Denver, CO. June 4-9, 2017. Poster Presentation.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Lu, Y., R. Zhang, Z. Bao, F. Tao, T. Wu, B. Wang, and Yu. F. 2017. In Situ Characterization of CuFe Catalyst for Higher Alcohols Synthesis from Syngas. 25th North American Catalysis Society Meeting. Denver, CO. June 4-9, 2017. Oral Presentation.