Tohru Setoyama
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation , Japan
Title: The progress of artificial photo synthesis chemical process project focusing on solar hydrogen production and CO2 utilization
Biography
Biography: Tohru Setoyama
Abstract
The artificial photo synthesis chemical process (ARPChem) project has run halfway around its 10 year term until 2016. This project is composed of three scientific programs as follows: Catalyst development for water splitting under sunlight to produce hydrogen; safety separation of hydrogen from hydrogen/oxygen mixture generated by water splitting; and Olefin production from CO2 and solar hydrogen. The goal of catalytic performance of water splitting under visible light is 10% as a sun light to hydrogen conversion (STH) and we have to establish a process having a sufficient scalability and a reasonable hydrogen production cost when compared to fossil-resource-based one. Here we propose a photo-catalyst sheet, which will satisfy these requirements in the future. MCC can contribute to the ARPChem project by extending its zeolite-related technologies. For example, we are investigating in the project, a safety hydrogen separation system from the mixture of H2 and O2, which is just in the middle of dangerous explosive zone. Molecular sieving by size recognition is very important to realize this technology. Another example is the catalysts for MTO reaction. SAPO-34 and ZSM-5 have been the only commercialized catalysts for MTO, while we are developing a new type of zeolite catalyst in the project. It has a remarkable durability even in a high temperature steam atmosphere. We would like to discuss not only the outline of ARPChem project but also the strategy for chemical industry in order to realize the drastic reduction of CO2 emissions from the view point of diversification of chemical resources such as utilization of CH4, CO2, and solar hydrogen. On the other hand, MCC has been developing other several technologies and processes related to synthesizing zeolitic materials. Representative examples of our activity are inter-conversion of olefins such as ETP (ethylene to propylene), BTP (propylene from methanol or higher olefins), adsorption heat pump (AHP, for desiccation and air conditioning by water vapor ad/de-sorption), zeolite membrane for gas separation, and SCR catalysts. Zeolite membrane is also applicable to the chemical processes under equilibrium control such as methanol synthesis and hydrogenation of CO2. We have developed a sealing methodology, which enables good sealing performance under practical operation conditions such as a high pressure and temperature.