BNL-
65452
Informal Report
Fossil Fuel Decarbonization Technology
for Mitigating Global Warming
Meyer Steinberg
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, New York 11973
1997- 1998
Engineering Technology Division
Department
of
Advanced Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, New
York
11973
Prepared
for
the
U.S.
Departrment
of
Energy
Washington,
DC
Contract
No.
DE-AC02-98CH10886
Disclaimer
This report was prepared
as
an account of work sponsored by an agency of the
United
States
Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency
thereof, nor any
of
their employees, or any of their contractors, subcontractors, or
their
employees, makes any warrantee, expressed or implied, or
assumes
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or
usefulness
of
an
information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use
would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific
commercial
produd,
process
or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or
otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement,
recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency,
contractor, or subcontractor thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed
herein do not necessarily
state
or reflect those of the United States Government or
any agency contractor or subcontractor thereof.
I
Fossil Fuel Decarbonization Technology
for
Mitigating Global Warming
BY
Meyer Steinberg
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Engineering Technology Division
Department
of
Advanced Technology
Upton,
NY
11973
Tel:
(5
16)
344-3036
Fax:
(156)
344-4255
1997
-
1998
.
This
work was performed under the auspices
of
the Department
of
Energy
NATURAL GAS DECARBONIZATION TECHNOLOGY
FOR
MITIGATING
GLOBAL WARMING
Meyer Steinberg
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton
NY
11747
1997
-
1998
A
hstrnct
It has been understood that production of hydrogen from fossil and carbonaceous fuels with
reduced CO, emission to the atmosphere is key to the production of hydrogen-rich fuels for
mitigating the CO, greenhouse gas climate change problem. The conventional methods of hydrogen
production fi-om fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas and biomass) include steam reforming and water gas shift
mainly of natural gas
(SRM).
In
order to suppress CO, emission from the steam reforming process,
CO, must be concentrated and sequestered either in or under the ocean or underground (in aquifers,
or depleted oil or gas wells). Up to about 40% of the energy is lost
in
this process.
An
alternative
process
is
the pyrolysis or the thermal decomposition of methane, natural gas (TDM) to hydrogen
and carbon. The carbon can either be sequestered or sold on the market as a materials commodity
or used as a fuel at a later date under less severe CO, restraints. The energy sequestered
in
the
carbon amounts to about 42% of the energy
in
the natural gas resource which is stored and not
destroyed.
A
comparison is made between the well developed conventional
SRM
and the less
developed TDM process including technological status, efficiency, carbon management and cost. The
TDM process appears to have advantages over the well developed
SRM
process. It is much easier
to sequester carbon as a stable solid than CO, as a reactive gas or low temperature liquid. It is also
possible to reduce cost by marketing the carbon as a filler or construction material. The potential
benefits ofthe TDM process justifies its further efficient development. The hydrogen can be used as
a transportation fie1 or converted to methanol by reaction with CO, from fossil fuel fired power plant
stack gases, thus allowing reuse of the carbon
in
conventional IC automobile engines or
in
advanced
fuel cell vehicles.
4
e
FOSSIL
FUEL DECARBONIZATION TECHNOLOGY FOR MITIGATING
GLOBAL WARMING
Meyer Steinberg
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton
NY
11747
1997-1998
Introduction
The International Panel (of the
UN)
on Climate Change (IPCC) representing the consensus
of thousands of leading world scientists has concluded that there is discerning evidence that global
warming has already taken place and that this will increase significantly within the next century").
This
panel has alerted the world community to begin considering mitigating the global warming effect
by curtailing the increase in concentration of the major greenhouse gas CO, in the atmosphere mainly
due to its emission fiom combustion
of
fossil fuels. The Kaya equation(,) teaches that a country's net
CO,
emission to the atmosphere is a function of (1) population,
(2)
the per capita domestic product
generated,
(3)
the energy generated per
gross
domestic product, and
(4)
the carbon emission per unit
energy. This equation has been modified by including a negative term which includes the removal of
CO, fiom the atmosphere and disposal
in
some sink. Based on this general equation, the following
mitigating paths are possible to limit the CO, emission.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Limit population growth.
Improve the efficiency of conversion and utilization
of
energy.
Utilize non-fossil energy sources
-
nuclear, solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy.
Increase biomass production and utilization including forestation, agriculture and
aquaculture (algae, etc).
Decarbonization of fossil fuels.
Sequestration of carbon from fossil fuels.
Because
of
the near term problems with the utilization of non-fossil energy sources, which
include availability, cost and safety factors, it appears its development will be slow. However, current
use
of
fossil fuels as an energy source upon which most
of
the world presently relies, continues to
increase its worldwide utilization especially
in
developing countries. This is due to fossil energy's
large resource base, its general availability at reasonable cost, and the large investment in technology
and infrastructure which utilizes fossil energy. Thus, it is necessary to seek
CO,
mitigation
technologies applied to the use of fossil fuels.
There are basically
two
methods of preventing
CO,
from entering the atmosphere due to the
3
utilization of fossil fuels as an energy source.
1