BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 brochure

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BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 Brochure A BP-funded program which aims to carry out fundamental underpinning science, advanced materials development and chemical process research in the areas of energy and chemicals. BP has established its first research team in China to collaborate with DICP and support BP’s business activities globally. To date this research has included work in the following fields: Sugar Chemistry Syngas Chemistry Advanced Materials Computational Fluid Dynamics A 20 year collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Science, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics for research and development in catalysis and material science. DRAFT VERSION 0.9 Steering Committee Michael Desmond Mike Muskett Angelo Amorelli Can Li Xinhe Bao Jie Xu Chief Chemist, BP Distinguished Advisor, BP VP, Science & Technology, BP China Deputy Director & Academician, DICP Academician, DICP Professor, DICP We have been collaborating with DICP for over 10 years. Our partnership combines DICP’s academic research strength with BP’s international energy expertise, applied to some very important scientific challenges. This brochure introduces our program and presents our current projects. Aaron Weiner, Director EIL 2013 We have worked together with BP, as one of our most important partnerships on a number of research projects spanning from basic to applied research in clean energy and chemicals. This collaboration not only promoted BP's business in the industry but also fostered our academic interests and fundamental understanding. We hope to further strengthen the collaboration and make even more successful progress in the future. Can Li, Deputy Director, DICP

Transcript of BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 brochure

Page 1: BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 brochure

BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 Brochure

A BP-funded program which aims to carry out fundamental underpinning science, advanced materials development and chemical process research in the areas of energy and chemicals. BP has established its first research team in China to collaborate with DICP and support BP’s business activities globally. To date this research has included work in the following fields: •Sugar Chemistry •Syngas Chemistry •Advanced Materials •Computational Fluid Dynamics

A 20 year collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Science, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics for research and development in catalysis and material science. DRAFT VERSION 0.9

Steering Committee

Michael

Desmond Mike Muskett Angelo Amorelli Can Li Xinhe Bao Jie Xu

Chief Chemist, BP Distinguished

Advisor, BP

VP, Science &

Technology, BP

China

Deputy Director &

Academician,

DICP

Academician,

DICP

Professor,

DICP

We have been collaborating with DICP for over 10 years. Our partnership combines DICP’s academic research strength with BP’s international energy expertise, applied to some very important scientific challenges. This brochure introduces our program and presents our current projects.

Aaron Weiner, Director EIL 2013

We have worked together with BP, as one of our most important partnerships on a number of research projects spanning from basic to applied research in clean energy and chemicals. This collaboration not only promoted BP's business in the industry but also fostered our academic interests and fundamental understanding. We hope to further strengthen the collaboration and make even more successful progress in the future.

Can Li, Deputy Director, DICP

Page 2: BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 brochure

Hydrogenating Vegetable Oils: Working with DICP and PetroChina to develop a

novel bio-diesel process

In today’s world of growing biofuel mandates, the industry is looking for a

cost effective process to convert biomass into liquid transportation fuels.

To address this, BP created a three party agreement with DICP and

PetroChina to develop a single step process to convert plant derived oils

(lipids) into biodiesel. DICP’s Professor Zhijian Tian’s group is focusing

on a developing a multifunctional catalyst which not only converts the

lipids into diesel range molecules, but minimizes the hydrogen

consumption by minimizing how much oxygen is removed through

hydrodeoxygenation. In a lipid deoxygenation step, there are generally

three parallel pathways: hydrodeoxygenation, hydrodecarboxylation and

hydrodecarbonylation as shown in the figure. This project aims to combine

the deoxygenation and isomerization steps in a single reactor with the

deoxygenation preferably following the path that minimizes hydrogen

consumption. It is believed that the process developed in this project will

have a lower CapEx by reducing the two reactor process into one and

reduce the OpEx by minimizing the hydrogen consumption. However, the

process also loses a Carbon molecule to CO or CO2, so the economics will

be influenced by the relative price of both the feedstock and hydrogen. At

the end of 2012, the DICP developed a series of catalysts at the bench-scale

level that shows promise and has filed for both a PCT (Patent Cooperation

Treaty) and Chinese patent. The next steps for the process are for both

PetroChina and the EIL to run larger scale tests at our respective

laboratories on different feedstocks over a range of conditions to test the

robustness of the catalysts and obtain data for further economic analysis.

BP is working with DuPont to develop and commercialize iso-butanol as an

advanced biofuel. The process uses fermentation to create the bio-butanol,

however iso-butanol is toxic to the fermentation cells above a certain

concentration, so it needs to be removed from the water in a continuous

fashion. Although conventional technologies like distillation can be used,

using a membrane can reduce both CapEx and OpEx. Professor Weishen

Yang at the DICP has spent four years developing a membrane for this

separation. The group has created three generations of membrane materials

including the current composite mixed matrix membrane. The flux and

separation data is similar to other membranes being developed in this

industry. Future work will explore the membranes operating performance

at different operating conditions that would make it more commercially

viable.

Membranes: Evaluating advanced materials for novel bio-fuel separations

Fungible diesel from soybean oil

The reaction pathways

Butanol separation process using membranes

Early versions of membrane technologies

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Sugar Chemistry: Finding new routes for producing green versions of fuels and

chemicals

Sugar chemistry opens up novel pathways to exploit renewable

resources to replace some chemicals & fuels. Professor Jie

Xu’s group has a strong history in this area. He has developed

catalysts for the cleavage of sorbitol to glycols, oxidation of

xylene, converting cyclohexane to cyclohexanone and has built

a 1000 ton/yr pilot plant for converting glycerol to 1,2-

propanediol. BP sponsored exploratory research to explore the

etherification of sugar derived Ethylene Glycol and Propylene

Glycol, with Methanol and/or Ethanol to make Glymes (glycol

di-ethers). The intent was to use them as a diesel additive due

to their high energy density, high cetane number and suitable

melting and boiling points. The project team successfully

screened a series of catalysts and found they could produce

high yields of 1,2-diethoxyethane and 1,2-diethoxypropane.

However, concerns about the toxicity of blending Glymes into

motor fuels caused us to look for other sugar chemistry

opportunities. In 2013, BP plans to begin a new collaboration

with Professor Xu looking at new platform molecules and

converting sugar to mono ethylene glycol.

Photo-catalysis: Exploring renewable pathways for hydrogen production

Continuing the theme of green renewable pathways, we funded some

fundamental solar research with Professor Can Li. Solar pathways to

produce hydrogen and chemicals have worldwide academic attention and

are seen as the ultimate clean energy solutions for the future. Professor

Can Li’s team explored how solar energy and catalysis broke down

biomass to produce hydrogen at ambient conditions. Those familiar with

how hydrogen is produced today will know it uses fossil fuels reacted at

high temperature and pressure, usually with water. Professor Can Li’s

group at the DICP undertook a two year exploratory project which ended

in 2012 using a titanium dioxide based photo-catalyst. Key learning’s

from this project were around the effect of surface phase structure of the

TiO2 catalyst on hydrogen production. It was discovered that the phase

junction formed between anatase and rutile can significantly enhance the

photo-catalytic activity due to the promoted charge separation. The

hydrogen can be produced from photo-catalytic reforming of methanol at

room temperature while the CO side product is limited to ppm levels. The

team also looked at assisting the photo-catalytic reaction by combining it

with a thermal catalytic reaction. In addition to the work at the DICP, BP

is sponsoring a student from the University of Liverpool who is also

working in the area of photo-catalysis under the direction of Professor

Jianliang Xiao.

Process for converting sugars to glymes

Physical properties of glymes compared to diesel

Process for using solar energy to produce hydrogen

Photo of TiO2 catalyst

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Syngas Chemistry: Novel catalysis to produce gasoline and chemicals

Today there are two typical processes for converting synthesis gas (CO+H2) from natural gas, coal or biomass into hydrocarbons:

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FT) which makes alkane liquid hydrocarbon products, typically diesel or chemicals and methanol to

hydrocarbon processes which can make olefins (MTO), gasoline (MTG), aromatics (MTA), propylene (MTP) or paraffins.

Professor Qingjie Ge’s team at the DICP is developing and screening new catalyst systems to modify the products derived from

the conversion of syngas via methanol and/or DME to iso-paraffinic gasoline. We are looking to Professor Ge’s team to be as

creative as possible in their collaboration with BP. The first year of the project has yielded a catalyst that has 60% conversion and

65% selectivity to C5-C11 molecules. In addition, the CO and H2 consumption ratio is close to 1, which is suitable for coal

gasification syngas. The C5-C8 fraction is mostly iso-paraffins, however the C9-C11 fraction is mostly aromatics. Going

forward, aside from working to improve the conversion and selectivity, Professor Ge will work on improving the product mixture

to target higher value feedstock and blending components in terms of olefins, aromatics and iso-paraffins. The chart shows the

relative value of these products.

Syngas processes: Helping BP Petrochemicals investigate fundamental science

underpinning the Acetyls business

BP works with DICP professors on projects that help us to

develop a more fundamental understanding of certain

technologies we employ.

Professor Wenjie Shen is working on just such a project that

helps to support BP’s Acetyls business. His team’s work is

focused on the fundamental understanding of some specific

chemistries that can provide insights into catalyst development,

catalyst characterization and kinetic modeling.

This work compliments the applied research we do internally at

BP and gives us the opportunity to better understand what is

happening on the surfaces of the working catalysts. We have

begun the fifth year of a six year relationship with Professor Shen

and have been very pleased with the research he has provided.

Low

H

igh

Potential value of molecules Syngas offers alternative paths to oil derived products

Pictures of catalyst under operating conditions

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Advanced Materials: State of the art in-situ catalyst characterization

Professor Xinhe Bao’s group is one of the world leaders in fundamental, in-situ characterization of catalysts and owns or has

developed state of the art characterization equipment. BP, through the office of the Chief Chemist, has signed a three year

relationship with his group, led by Professor Xiulian Pan, to provide us with fundamental understanding of new and existing

chemical processes. This collaboration includes novel catalyst systems, described in the next section, as well as responding to

specific questions arising from our own research. For example, BP’s Conversion Technology Center has a group that is working on

BP’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch process (FT), which converts syngas to liquid hydrocarbons. FT chemistry often relies on the

impregnation of iron or cobalt on heterogeneous, non-ordered porous supports with large pore channels. However, the mechanistic

understanding of the FT process is highly complex and requires subtle optimization of the support, synthesis method, promoter

metals, calcination conditions, reduction of the active species and start-up procedures with syngas. They assisted our FT group by

providing insights into the influence of the activation conditions on the compositions and structures of the catalysts as well as their

correlation with their final catalytic performance. This was accomplished by running a series of proprietary techniques using in-situ

XRD, XPS and TEM. This has provided clues as to how to optimize commercial start-up operating conditions.

Advanced Materials: Nano-structured carbons for novel catalysis

Nano-structured carbon has been shown to exhibit unique catalytic properties. The

DICP has found that carbon nanotubes, which possess well defined tubular

morphology with unique electronic structure, can provide an intriguing confinement

environment for nano-catalysis. The size of the encapsulated material can be

restricted to the nano or sub-nano scale within the channels. Interacting with curved

graphene and heteroatom-doped graphene induces modified physiochemical

properties of metal species, and hence the adsorption and activation of reactants,

stabilization of intermediates and diffusion of reactant and product molecules. All

these could have a profound effect on reaction rates, and may also change the

reaction mechanisms. Under the BP Chief Chemist’s program, Professor Xiulian Pan

is using these new types of catalysts for synthesizing light olefins. The first phase of

work found catalysts with high selectivity but low activity as well as catalysts with

high activity but low selectivity. Using these results, they were able to try other

metal additives as well as various doping agents that improved both activity and

selectivity. The key is to fundamentally understand the structure-performance

correlation, and how these nano-structured carbon can be utilized to improve the

catalytic activity and selectivity.

Multi purpose catalyst characterization equipment Photo emission electron microscope

Carbon nanotube

In situ XRD

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Advanced Materials: Finding real world applications for Graphenes

The Institute of Metal Research (IMR) in Shenyang, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is one of the top institutes in China

working on material science. The BP Chief Chemist’s office has signed a consultancy agreement with the IMR that gives us

access and rights to research outputs in Graphene and Battery Technology, while BP brings expertise in patent filing and

technology exploitation outside of China to the IMR. The focus of the research, carried out within IMR’s Advanced Carbon

Research Division, will assist BP in developing a deeper insight into the high profile research world of Graphene and Battery

Technology.

Graphene is a newly discovered two-dimensional carbon material which possesses many fascinating physical and chemical

properties and a wide range of potential applications. It is composed of pure carbon, with atoms arranged in a regular hexagonal

pattern similar to graphite, but in a one-atom thick sheet. This makes it extremely strong, yet flexible. Graphenes have been

touted for multiple applications - such as electronics, sensors, coatings, anti-corrosion, energy storage or catalyst support. The

IMR team has currently built a pilot production line to produce graphene nano-sheets based on their proprietary synthesis method

in collaboration with another company and has developed a graphene sponge that could have applications for separations

technology.

Batteries are an important source of energy storage and the industry is constantly looking for ways to create a step-change increase

in energy storage capacity. The IMR has developed a flexible nanostructured sulfur–carbon nanotube cathode with high

performance for Li-S batteries. Moreover, they have designed and fabricated flexible graphene-based lithium ion batteries with

ultrafast charge and discharge rates using graphene foam, a highly-conductive three-dimensional graphene network. Such

innovations could be used in mobile applications, transportation and in industrial operations.

Pictures of the surface of graphenes and graphenes being used as a sponge to absorb diesel oil

Cathode

Anode

Separator

e―

e―

Pictures of the flexible graphene-based lithium ion batteries

Page 7: BP Dalian Energy Innovation Laboratory 2013 brochure

Computational Fluid Dynamics: Building capability in China to support BP

globally

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an advanced simulation tool that BP is using to

better simulate complex single or multiphase problems where there is a need to evaluate

the effects of velocity, temperature, pressure and phase interaction (liquid, gas & solids) in

a process where the geometry is well-defined. The EIL supported BP’s Downstream CFD

group in 2012 on a variety of topics.

BP’s Upstream business is using CFD modeling to make better informed safety critical

decisions. One of our EIL chemical engineers provided expert support by modeling sand

erosion in a deep water well, to better understand if the predicted erosion exceeded BP’s

standard under the specified operating conditions. A second project was also completed in

conjunction with BP’s Downstream CFD team on the same question for a different well.

In downstream applications, the EIL has focused on CFD work in three main areas: crude

oil mixing in tanks, bubble column multiphase flow and fluidized bed reactors. The work

is done in collaboration with two research institutes in China; DICP and the Institute of

Process Engineering (IPE) in Beijing. At DICP, we are working with Professors Zhongmin

Liu and Mao Ye to develop a model to study heat removal, volume reduction and pressure

increase in a fluidized bed reactor using a simple methanation process (syngas to natural

gas) as the model system. In 2012, various 2-D simulations were conducted to explore bed

expansion, emulsion phase characteristics and bubble behavior under different operating

conditions. Future plans include setting up experimental units which will be used to

visually verify the results.

A collaboration has also been initiated between BP, funded jointly by Downstream

technology and Group Technology’s DRL initiative, and the IPE in late 2012 to use their

multi-scale modeling capabilities on two specific BP applications. The first is tank-mixing

to find a way to increase computational speed and the second is to simulate bubble

columns to assess the full potential of the EMMS approach for multiphase-flow modeling.

The IPE has developed a truly world-class multi-scale modeling capability over the past

several decades. The group uses an original, first-principles-based approach called the

Energy-Minimization-Meso-Scale (EMMS) to capture the intricate flow structures

resulting from complex inter-phase dynamics in multiphase flows. This, combined with

their state-of-the-art computing hardware facilities, enables them to solve complex

problems from molecular modeling to systems engineering.

Deep water oil platform

Air bubbling through various liquids

CFD model of a tank mixing

CFD model of erosion in a pipe

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Our team, our facilities, our capabilities

BP’s Energy Innovation Laboratory (EIL) is a research technology center and

laboratory, part of BP Downstream’s China Technology & Engineering

activities. It is located in the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP),

Chinese Academy of Sciences. The DICP is one of China’s top institution in

materials and chemical process development. They have 495 professors, 13

Academicians, 1028 staff members and 777 graduate students.

The laboratory opened in 2011 and has five pilot plants that can be used for

catalyst testing including a 16 reactor high throughput unit, laboratory

equipment to make and characterize catalysts and analytical equipment to

characterize the hydrocarbon feeds and products. In addition, we have access

to much of DICP’s state of the art equipment. The experiments performed in

the laboratory support both the DICP projects we collaborate on as well as

other BP technology groups.

The EIL employs 10 full time BP staff who not only work in our laboratory,

but support other scientific endeavors in BP. The team has a core of PhD

Chemists, all of whom either attended or worked at the DICP before joining

BP. They work closely with DICP research groups to find new fields to

collaborate on, and then support these projects, including running experiments

in the EIL lab. They also run experiments to support BP’s technology groups

including support of BP Petrochemical and Shanghai BiKe CECC (BP & CAS

JV) in particular. The team also monitors technology and science being

developed in China and are connected into BP’s scientific networks.

The EIL also has two chemical engineers (both Dalian natives) on site who

provide process engineering support for our laboratory and perform process

design and economic analysis of the DICP projects we sponsor. In addition,

our engineers support the wider BP in Computational Fluid Dynamic

modeling, and with BP’s Conversion technology group on processes such as

gasification (also with Tsinghua University) and VCC™ petroleum

residue/coal hydrocracking (also with KBR China).

EIL laboratory

EIL office

Autoclaves for making catalyst

EIL laboratory EIL office building EIL opening ceremony