Catalytics for combustion
Catalytic processes in chemistry for combustion are most times comprised of precious or semiprecious materials. A catalyst provides for increased chemical reactions at the molecular level of some substance. The catalyst typically is not consumed or altered by the underlying reaction, but rather facilitates the desired reaction to convert some other chemistry and will usually accelerate that conversion. By definition... a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed at a usually faster rate or under different conditions (as at a lower temperature) than otherwise possible.
Most who visit this topic are familiar with the automobile's use of a "catalytic converter". The exhaust gas flows through a durable, inert "lattice" as a foundation, typically a high temperature ceramic, metal, or other porous substrate to allow gas to flow through the substrate.
The substrate material is coated or infused with the catalyzing material anchored to the substrate. As the heated gas passes through the substrate, particular gas molecules which are subject to the catalytic material undergo chemical change. This typically will be a reaction to break down a more complex molecule to a simpler molecules, enabling the converted material to be combusted without releasing the otherwise undesired emission. The reaction frequently will cause heating which in most cases improves the catalytic reaction.
Our use of catalytic converters on gasoline engines today is intended to reduce oxygen to break apart No(x) emissions and remove carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide.
Some times the emission released is also undesirable but on a far lower scale of concern by comparison. The result will always be a partial or complete reaction depending on the characteristics of the catalyst, temperature and duration of exposure as the gasses flow through the substrate and are exposed to the catalyst.
The basis of good catalyst design is to use a low cost but durable substrate in a large enough package to provide for duration of exposure relative to the flow rate of the gas passing through it. One of the most important considerations is the total square area of lattice. The more square area of exposure, the more effective the package will be. The other concern is to avoid passing contaminates into the lattice which may attack, foul, contaminate or block the flow of gas, which might destroy the catalyst or interfere to block the gas from exposure to the catalyst.
Under any given example, steel, copper, palladium, platinum, nickel even gold are used as catalysts alone or in combination. The catalyst can be formed or attached to the lattice in many ways. The catalyst may be flowed onto the substrate then baked or might be diffused and deposited as a plasma in a vacuum chamber. Growth and deposition of nano particles of catalyst are becoming increasingly more effective.
The first step in treating a stream of liberated gas is to remove any fine particles. The Carbon Analytic process does this first by high temperature / velocity dynamics in an oxygen depleted, partial vacuum. This incorporates reoccurring combustion consumption or exhaust material re-circulation. The exiting gas undergoes a hydrogen / Co2 enrichment phase which produces a "syn-gas" composite mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and residual methane. The syn-gas then passes through ion particle separation and filtration bed in case of any fine material escaping. The syn-gas is then passed through a bed of metal and semi-precious metal as a last phase catalytic conditioning and cooling.
The final exhaust from the secondary combustion of the syn-gas passes through a final stage of catalytic conversion which actively converts No(x) and carbon monoxide like other engines do. The syn-gas production already utilized depleted oxygen reducing nitrogen with further fuel amendment to address nitration. Accordingly the production of No(x) emissions is substantially lower to an acceptable rate as the oxygen becomes depleted in process. There are other catalytic functions addressed in the Carbon Analytic development efforts as well, currently in proprietary development.
It's important to remember the remaining Co2 as discussed under the Combustion Innovation link is already 100% carbon negative. This is due simply to the raw materials being sourced from above ground plant-based supply. Secondly the amount of Co2 produced is a net negative Co2. The design also reduces land fill emissions of raw methane and Co2 from decomposition as a major improvement while a portion of these resources can also be taken from accumulated ocean waste.
Our final phase catalyzing system is built from the char byproduct from the gasification reactor. That gasification process undergoes high temperature pyrolysis, oxygen depleted under vacuum. The torrified carbon material can be removed optionally before complete consumption. The carbon is is then infused with the final last stage catalysts in three distinct forms. The finished carbon lattice is then packed into a container to place in the outgoing exhaust stream where it manages the final gas conditioning. The remaining gas exiting the system is approximately 500 degrees Fahrenheit, (260 Celsius) which finally passes through catalysts to mitigate any remaining undesired emissions far below the narrowest of regulatory requirement. At a typical service interval the converters are swapped out and returned back to the processing site where the carbon is burned off to recapture the catalyzing material for continued reuse.
In short, the emissions created by the gasification reactor, followed by the final combustion process are self-managing processes. This insures efficient energy capture / production, with a clean emission stream of exhaust as well as several forms of usable byproducts. All of these provide useful purposes actively reducing the negative effects of accumulating waste to improve the more toxic causes harming the environment for many decades now.
One might ask if this solution could be developed in a small private effort as we are doing, why hasn't it been done before this on a commercial grade to reorganize the damage being done and restore ecological balance? That answer is not a simple one, but can be considered mostly to do with profits in both fossil fuel and its relationship with transportation and energy production. These two factors meet head on in corporate fears of change combined with governance allowing lobbying efforts to sustain the status quo. By privatizing a scalable, sustainable solution through redesigned combustion, changes can be brought to both industries and governance in a manner that sustains transition rather than elimination.
