Mickey Leland intern Huda Ashfaq
Huda Ashfaq, a junior at West Virginia University, is working as a Mickey Leland Energy Fellow this summer with mentor Todd Gardner to develop and test novel nanostructured catalyst materials in NETL-Morgantown’s Nano-Particle Technology laboratory. The Nano-Particle Technology laboratory was developed and commissioned by Dr. Gardner as a concept laboratory to improve NETL’s competitive posture in the nano- and catalytic sciences. The catalysts being developed are tested for their capability to produce syngas (H2 and CO) from shale gas with millisecond contact time reactions. Nanostructuring of the active sites is used to attain high activity and carbon deposition resistance during catalytic partial oxidation (CPOx). This technology will improve the overall efficiency and utilization of shale gas in the upstream oil and gas industry where significant amounts of associated gas is vented, as CH4, or flared, as CO2, during extraction of the higher value crude. The catalysts are being tailored for use in highly compact, millisecond contact time partial oxidation reactors where direct syngas production mechanisms have been reported in the literature. This topical area has not been researched to a great extent and holds great potential for future applications that reduce net carbon emissions from upstream crude production using small-scale gas-to-liquid (GTL) platforms.
Mickey Leland intern Huda Ashfaq
Huda Ashfaq, a junior at West Virginia University, is working as a Mickey Leland Energy Fellow this summer with mentor Todd Gardner to develop and test novel nanostructured catalyst materials in NETL-Morgantown’s Nano-Particle Technology laboratory. The Nano-Particle Technology laboratory was developed and commissioned by Dr. Gardner as a concept laboratory to improve NETL’s competitive posture in the nano- and catalytic sciences. The catalysts being developed are tested for their capability to produce syngas (H2 and CO) from shale gas with millisecond contact time reactions. Nanostructuring of the active sites is used to attain high activity and carbon deposition resistance during catalytic partial oxidation (CPOx). This technology will improve the overall efficiency and utilization of shale gas in the upstream oil and gas industry where significant amounts of associated gas is vented, as CH4, or flared, as CO2, during extraction of the higher value crude. The catalysts are being tailored for use in highly compact, millisecond contact time partial oxidation reactors where direct syngas production mechanisms have been reported in the literature. This topical area has not been researched to a great extent and holds great potential for future applications that reduce net carbon emissions from upstream crude production using small-scale gas-to-liquid (GTL) platforms.