Brought to you by
Professor Jun Huang
Innovation:
Reducing CO2 from oil refineries
Professor, University of Sydney; PhD (Chemical), University of Stuttgart (Germany); Member of Engineers Australia
A significant amount of carbon is emitted when crude oil is refined to produce products like shampoo, oil, medicine, gasoline or diesel, all of which contain hydrocarbons.
Nevertheless, industrial sectors rely so heavily on these compounds that hydrocarbon is now a $1.5 trillion industry.
To speed up the refinement process, oil refineries currently use silica-alumina materials, such as crystalline zeolites and amorphous silica-alumina, as chemical catalysts to crack the crude oil or bio-oil.
Now, University of Sydney Professor Jun Huang MIEAust has produced a new amorphous silica-alumina catalyst with stronger acidity than any other silica-alumina material created before.
The implications of this research are highly significant for many industries and highlight the potential for a catalyst industry in Australia.
“I’ve designed a new and unique acid site based on the synergy of penta and tetra-coordinated aluminium species in amorphous silica networks,” Huang explains.
“This catalyst with enhanced acidity exhibits outstanding performances in hydrocarbon activation and biomass conversion — much better than the high-acid zeolite. The unique acidity of this catalyst allows us to reduce the amount of coke left behind in hydrocarbon production and further decrease carbon dioxide emissions from coke-burning during oil refinement.”
Huang’s work has the potential not only to make the fossil fuel industry much greener, but also to develop the biomass industry for sustainable solutions for hydrocarbon production.
If this new catalyst were to be adopted by the entire oil refinery industry, a reduction of more than 20 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions could be achieved during the oil refinement process.
That would be the equivalent of twice Australia’s crude oil consumption of more than two million barrels of oil per day.
The implications of this research are highly significant for many industries and highlight the potential for a catalyst industry in Australia.
Denmark, for instance, has created an entire catalyst industry that exports ammonia to hydrocarbon manufacturers across the globe. Huang’s catalyst provides a more cost-effective and sustainable solution that is in high demand.
Judges’ comments:
“An attractive improvement to a functional material. It seems like it could have a significant global impact.”