Near 100% CO selectivity in nanoscaled iron-based oxygen carriers for chemical looping methane partial oxidation

Yan Liu, Lang Qin, Zhuo Cheng, Josh W. Goetze, Fanhe Kong, Jonathan A. Fan and Liang-Shih Fan ()
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Yan Liu: The Ohio State University
Lang Qin: The Ohio State University
Zhuo Cheng: The Ohio State University
Josh W. Goetze: The Ohio State University
Fanhe Kong: The Ohio State University
Jonathan A. Fan: Stanford University
Liang-Shih Fan: The Ohio State University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Chemical looping methane partial oxidation provides an energy and cost effective route for methane utilization. However, there is considerable CO2 co-production in current chemical looping systems, rendering a decreased productivity in value-added fuels or chemicals. In this work, we demonstrate that the co-production of CO2 can be dramatically suppressed in methane partial oxidation reactions using iron oxide nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous silica matrix. We experimentally obtain near 100% CO selectivity in a cyclic redox system at 750–935 °C, which is a significantly lower temperature range than in conventional oxygen carrier systems. Density functional theory calculations elucidate the origins for such selectivity and show that low-coordinated lattice oxygen atoms on the surface of nanoparticles significantly promote Fe–O bond cleavage and CO formation. We envision that embedded nanostructured oxygen carriers have the potential to serve as a general materials platform for redox reactions with nanomaterials at high temperatures.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13560-0

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