A new catalyst technology to produce ethylene and propylene from natural gas

21-Aug-14

To develop a new catalyst technology to produce ethylene and propylene from natural gas, Bio2Electric, LLC, dba EcoCatalytic Technologies, is collaborating with North Carolina State University, among other industry partners. NC State will head catalyst development and bench scale testing under Dr. Fanxing Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Key personnel include Dr. Luke Neal, a postdoctoral research scholar, and graduate research associates. “Our work will focus on a novel redox catalyst that has shown promise to enhance yield of ethylene and propylene while reducing emissions,” said Dr. Fanxing Li. Ethylene and propylene are major building blocks in the organic chemical industry, with more than 750 million tpa produced globally and transformed into plastics such as PE, PP and PET—which are ultimately used in thousands of consumer products. “The confluence of low cost natural gas in the U.S. and the need to reduce environmental emissions provides significant opportunity for innovation,” said EcoCatalytic Technologies CEO Dr. John Sofranko. Bio2Electric, LLC, dba EcoCatalytic Technologies, received a three-year, US$3.8 mln award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a new catalyst technology for ethylene and propylene production from components of natural gas. NC State’s work will be funded by $1.29 million of the grant.