March 20, 1996

Research Could Lower Cost to Produce Alternative Fuels

Dr. George Roberts, professor of chemical engineering, and doctoral student collaborators Marco Marquez and Shawn McCutcheon, have developed a new process for alcohol synthesis. Their findings could lower the production costs of alternative fuels.

The key to their research rests in the use of slurry reactors, liquid-filled vessels in which chemical reactions occur. Until now the biggest obstacle for using slurry reactors to produce alternative fuels was that they could only function to about 275 degrees Celsius. Possible applications require more heat.

The findings "make it possible (for industry) to use slurry reactors in processes where they could not be used before, such as alcohol synthesis," Roberts says.

Roberts' team used zinc-chromite as the catalyst in their slurry reactor where the temperatures ranged from 275 to 375 degrees Celsius. Two problems usually associated with this process were avoided: degradation of the slurry liquid and deactivation of the catalyst, rendering it useless. They discovered that zinc-chromite held up superbly under the intensified heat, producing usable quantities of dimethyl ether and olefins.

Roberts presented a paper about these findings, "Alcohol Synthesis in a High-Temperature Slurry Reactor," at the American Chemical Society annual meeting March 25 in New Orleans. NC State has filed a patent application.

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