• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.256-262
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• 2010

This paper discussed the following. 1. After reaching the final phase of an oil-based society, a resource-saving and -recycling "Methane Energy-based Society" will come about because of limited natural resources. 2. Industrial Infrastructure Technologies which support the Methane Energy-based Society will cause a paradigm shift in the area of industrial, transportation and civilian sectors. 3. The Non-communication application technology of microwaves plays an important role as one of the core element technologies which comprise new industrial infrastructure technologies.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2021

In this study, the optical properties, heat transfer capabilities and chemical reaction performance of a methane thermal decomposition reactor using solar heat as a heat source were numerically analyzed on the basis of the cavity shape. The optical properties were analyzed using TracePro, a Monte Carlo ray tracing-based program, and the heat transfer analysis was performed using Fluent, a CFD program. An indirect heating tubular reactor was rotated at a constant speed to prevent damage by the heat source in the solar furnace. The inside of the reactor was filled with a porous catalyst for methane decomposition, and the outside was insulated to reduce heat loss. The performance of the reactor, based on cavity shape, was calculated when solar heat was concentrated on the reactor surface and methane was supplied into the reactor in an environment with a solar irradiance of 700 W/㎡, a wind speed of 1 m/s, and an outdoor temperature of 25℃. Thus, it was confirmed that the heat loss of the full-cavity model decreased to 13% and the methane conversion rate increased by 33.5% when compared to the semi-cavity model.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2007

Methane is partially oxidized to produce the syngas by the lattice oxygen of metal oxides in the absence of gaseous oxygen. The present work deals with ferrite including copper component, which does not chemisorb methane, to investigate the suppression of the carbon deposition during the reduction of metal oxides by methane. Iron-based oxides of $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4$(X=0.25, 0.5, 1.0) was synthesized by the co-precipitation method. Thermogravimetric Analysis(TGA) was used to observe the isothermal reduction behavior of $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ and $Fe_3O_4$ at $600-900^{\circ}C$ under methane atmosphere. The crystal structures of reduced specimens were characterized by X-rays powder diffraction(XRD) technique. From the analyses of TGA, it is concluded that the reduction kinetics of $CuFe_2O_4$ was the fastest among $Fe_3O_4$ and $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4$(X=0.25, 0.5, 1.0). The X-ray diffraction analyses indicated that $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ was decomposed to Cu and $Fe_3O_4$ phase at $600^{\circ}C$ and was reduced to Cu and Fe phase at $800^{\circ}C$. $Fe_3O_4$, which was reduced at $900^{\circ}C$, showed Fe, graphite and $Fe_3C$ phases. On the contrary, $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4$ does not show the graphite or $Fe_3C$ phases. This results infer that Cu component suppress the carbon deposition on Cu-ferrite.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.182-192
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• 2022

This study provides an overview of the production costs of methane and hydrogen via water electrolysis-based hydrogen production followed by a methanation based methane production technology utilizing CO₂ from external sources. The study shows a comparative way for economic optimization of green methane generation using excess free electricity from renewable sources. The study initially developed the overall process on the Aspen Plus simulation tool. Aspen Plus estimated the capital expenditure for most of the equipment except for the methanation reactor and electrolyzer. The capital expenditure, the operating expenditure and the feed cost were used in a discounted cash flow based economic model for the methane production cost estimation. The study compared different reactor configurations as well. The same model was also used for a hydrogen production cost estimation. The optimized economic model estimated a methane production cost of $11.22/mcf when the plant is operating for 4000 hr/year and electricity is available for zero cost. Furthermore, a hydrogen production cost of $2.45/GJ was obtained. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the methane production cost as the electrolyzer cost varies across different electrolyzer types. A sensitivity study was also performed for the changing electricity cost, the number of operation hours per year and the plant capacity. The estimated levelized cost of methane (LCOM) in this study was less than or comparable with the existing studies available in the literature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1597-1605
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• 2014

Methane is considered as a next-generation carbon feedstock owing to the vast reserves of natural and shale gas. Methane can be converted to methanol by various methods, which in turn can be used as a starting chemical for the production of value-added chemicals using existing chemical conversion processes. Methane monooxygenase is the key enzyme that catalyzes the addition of oxygen to methane. Methanotrophic bacteria can transform methane to methanol by inhibiting methanol dehydrogenase. In this paper, we review the recent progress made on the biocatalytic conversion of methane to methanol as a key step for methane-based refinery systems and discuss future prospects for this technology.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Interest in hydrogen productions that do not emit carbon dioxide and can produce hydrogen at a low price is increasing. Reforming and electrolysis are widely used, but they have limitations, such as carbon dioxide problems and costs. The methane can be decomposed as hydrogen and solid carbon without carbon dioxide emission at high temperatures. In this research, the methane pyrolysis experiment was conducted at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃ in a ceramic tube. The composition of the produced gas was measured by gas chromatography before carbon blocked the tube. The methane conversion rate and hydrogen selectivity were calculated based on the results. The hydrogen selectivity was derived as 60% and 55% at the highest point at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃, respectively. The produced solid carbon was expected to be carbon black and was analyzed using scanning electron microscope.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2020

Because of the intensified environmental problems such as climate change and resource depletion, sewage treatment technology focused on energy management has recently attracted attention. The conversion of primary sludge from the primary sedimentation tank and excessive sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank into biogas is the key to energy-positive sewage treatment. In particular, the primary sedimentation tanks recover enriched biodegradable organic matter and anaerobic digestion process produces methane from the organic wastes for energy production. Such technologies for minimizing oxygen demand are leading the innovation regarding sewage treatment plants. However, sewage treatment facilities in Korea lack core technology and operational know-how. Actually, the energy potential of sewage is higher than sewage treatment energy consumption in the sewage treatment, but current processes are not adequately efficient in energy recovery. To improve this, it is possible to apply chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), high-rate activated sludge (HRAS), and anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to the primary sedimentation tank. To maximize the methane production of sewage treatment plants, organic wastes such as food waste and livestock manure can be digested. Additionally, mechanical pretreatment, thermal hydrolysis, and chemical pretreatment would enhance the methane conversion of organic waste. Power generation systems based on internal combustion engines are susceptible to heat source losses, requiring breakthrough energy conversion systems such as fuel cells. To realize the energy positive sewage treatment plant, primary organic matter recovery from sewage, biogas pretreatment, and co-digestion should be optimized in the energy management system based on the knowledge-based operation.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

In this study, an efficient one-dimensional model was developed for predicting microchannel steam/methane reformers with thin washcoat catalyst layers with a focus on low-pressure reforming conditions suitable for distributed hydrogen production systems for fuel cell applications. The governing equations for steam/methane mixture gas flowing through the microchannel reformer were derived considering the species conservation with reforming reactions and energy conservation with external convective heat supply. The reaction rates for the developed model were simply determined through the catalyst effectiveness factor correlations instead of performing complicated calculations for the steam/methane reforming process occurring inside the washcoat catalyst layers. The accuracy of the developed was verified by comparing the results obtained herein with those obtained by the detailed computational fluid dynamics calculation for the same microchannel reformer.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.601-607
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• 2019

Ammonia would be formed in natural gas containing small amount of nitrogen reforming process in the process natural gas, which might damage the Pt catalyst and Prox catalyst. In the article, the effect of nitrogen contents on the formation of ammonia in the reforming process has been studied. In the experiments, Ru based and Ni based catalysts were used and the concentration of ammonia in the reformate gas at various gas hourly space velocity was measured. Experimental result shows that relatively higher ammonia concentration was measured with Ru based catalyst than with Ni based catalyst. It also shows that the concentration of ammonia increased rapidly after most of the methane converted into hydrogen. Based on the experimental results to reduce ammonia concentration it might be better to finish methane conversion at the exit position of the reforming reactor to minimize the contact time of catalyst and nitrogen with high concentration of hydrogen.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.427-434
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• 2023

Large amounts of organic wastes generated in agricultural environments such as crop residues and livestock manure adversely affect the environment. Anaerobic digestion can reduce the amount of organic wastes and convert them into energy at the same time. Efforts are being made to further increase the energy conversion efficiency by using co-anaerobic digestion using two or more substrates. Tomatoes, rice straw, cattle manure, and cattle feces (CF) were used as substrates for anaerobic digestion. Each substrate was subjected to anaerobic digestion and the cumulative biochemical methane production potential was measured, and the biodegradability was calculated. Based on the methane production, CF and tomato were further used for co-anaerobic digestion at different mixing ratios. Among the CF:tomato ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1, 1:2 produced the most methane and the synergy index was greater 1 indicating that the co-digestion of CF and tomato improved the methane production. Overall, the results showed that the methane production from cattle manure can be improved using tomato residues.