We optimized and tested a postbioprocessing step with a single-culture archaeon to upgrade biogas (i.e., increase methane content) from anaerobic digesters via conversion of CO(2) into CH(4) by feeding H(2) gas. We optimized a culture of the thermophilic methanogen Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus using: (1) a synthetic H(2)/CO(2) mixture; (2) the same mixture with pressurization; (3) a s...

The availability of large reserves of methane, which is the main component of most natural gas, makes it a very important feedstock molecule for the production of base chemicals (e.g. ethylene, propylene, and aromatics) and energy carriers (i.e. transportation fuels). More recently, the shale gas bonanza—particularly in the USA—as well as the presence of vast amounts of gas methane hydrates at ...

Plasmatron fuel converters have been investigated for the conversion of a wide range of fuels. This is a paper of a series of papers describing an effort to investigate experimentally and computationally plasmatron methane reformers. This paper describes the fluid dynamics modeling of the plasmatron methane reformer, with the hope of understanding air/methane mixture and mixing rates in the reg...

In this work, the dry reforming of methane was studied using a corona and gliding discharge plasma microreactors. A chemical kinetic model was developed to describe the experimental behavior observed. The kinetic model is proposed based on the assumption that the reactant molecules CH4 or CO2 are attacked by active species produced b...

Methane is abundant and relatively inexpensive, making it an attractive feedstock for producing bulk chemicals. However, the low reactivity of methane makes it difficult to develop commercially viable processes for methane conversion. Because of favorable thermodynamics, many authors have investigated the oxidation and oxidative carbonylation of methane. By contrast, the sulfonation of methane ...

Given our vast methane reserves and the difficulty in transporting methane without substantial leaks, the conversion of methane directly into electricity would be beneficial. Microbial fuel cells harness electrical power from a wide variety of substrates through biological means; however, the greenhouse gas methane has not been used with much success previously as a substrate in microbial fuel ...

The partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas over rhodium sponge has been investigated by admitting pulses of pure methane and pure oxygen as well as mixtures of methane and oxygen to rhodium sponge at temperatures from 873 to 1023 K. Moreover, pulses of oxygen followed by methane and vice versa as well as pulses of mixtures of methane and labelled oxygen were applied to study the role of ...

Results in three areas of anaerobic microbiology in which methane formation and utilization plays central part are reviewed. a.) Bio-methane formation by reduction of carbon dioxide in the power-to-gas process and the various possibilities of improvement of the process is a very intensively studied topic recently. From the numerous potential methods of exploiting methane of biological origin tw...

Due to the recent increase of natural gas production in the U.S., utilizing natural gas for higher-value chemicals has become imperative. Direct methane aromatization (DMA) is a promising process used to convert methane to benzene, but it is limited by low conversion of methane and rapid catalyst deactivation by coking. Past work has shown that membrane separation of the hydrogen produced in th...

The anaerobic digestion process is globally applied to the treatment of highly concentrated wastes such as industrial and rural effluents, and sewage sludge. However, it is known to be relatively unstable. When loaded with high concentrations of organic material, unwanted volatile fatty acids (VFA) are often produced rather than methane (CH4) gas which can lead to digester acidification and fai...