Bizeolcat Informs! From gas flaring to valuable chemicals: the role of catalysts.

In the previous post of Bizeolcat informs we described dehydrogenation reactions to transform light alkanes in olefins or aromatics. We found that a lot of energy is required for such transformation and to lower the activation of the processes, compounds called Catalysts, are necessary.

A catalyst is some material that speeds up chemical reactions. With a helping hand from a catalyst, molecules that might take years to interact, can now do so in seconds. Factories rely on catalysts to make everything from plastic to drugs. Catalysts help process petroleum and coal into liquid fuels as well as gaseous alkanes in liquids. They’re key players in clean-energy technologies. Natural catalysts in the body — known as enzymes — even play important roles in digestion and more.

Existing industrial approaches in the field of catalytic conversion of alkanes into high-value chemicals have been developed worldwide with catalysts that lack site homogeneity with only a small fraction of active species. Current commercial technologies for alkanes conversion into higher valuable processes are mainly limited by the energy demand and catalyst periodic regeneration due to coke formation (ex. 15-30 min for Catofin), leading to very large and complex plants

In this context, BIZEOLCAT aims to overcome such barriers by developing and upscaling four competitive processes combining nanoparticles on oxide or mesoporous zeolites improved catalysts and integrate those in advanced reactors like membrane reactors which combine reaction and separation, thus allowing lower energy requirement, lower carbon footprint and higher efficiency compared to conventional systems.

Due to the innovative content of the project subject to patent, it is not possible to give further details of the Bizeolcat Catalysis composition.

Just keep in mind that BIZEOLCAT represents a powerful approach for the wide adoption of new catalysts that can be used by existing industrial processes like Oleflex, Catofin and Catadiene decreasing enormously necessary CAPEX to set up the new process.

Stay tuned for the next Bizeolcat informs about the topic: Membrane Reactors!