More than a decade ago, not long after the Chemical Engineering degree started at the University of Western Australia, the Gas Capture Technology team under the leadership of Professor Eric May (BSc '00, PhD '04) embarked on a journey.
The team were motivated by the need to capture dilute methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas (GHG) which accounts for 15−20 per cent of global GHG emissions, and has 28 times the warming power of carbon dioxide.
Unconventional sources of this low-grade methane, such as coal beds, agriculture and land-fill gas, represent both a serious environmental challenge and a significant opportunity.
Inefficient extraction and enrichment processes mean that substantial quantities of CH4 are either vented or flared. Capturing and using low-grade CH4 would directly lower greenhouse gas emissions while improving energy security.
Image: The pressure swing adsorption rig designed by Gas Capture Technologies .
Alongside Dr Kevin Gang Li (PhD '10), the team developed Ionic Liquidic Zeolite (ILZTM) materials, which combine the high selectivity of ionic liquids for methane over nitrogen and the large capacity and fast mass transfer kinetics of porous zeolites.
Dr Li discovered this new ILZ material in 2011 while searching for materials with improved CO2 capture performance.
In 2012, Dr Li moved to UWA to work with Professor May on ways to reduce methane emissions from the vent-streams of nitrogen rejection units.
Dr Li showed Professor May his previous results and they quickly realised the ILZ material could provide a solution to the problem and set about acquiring the data needed for a provisional patent application which was lodged in 2015.
The next few years involved extensive laboratory research, with significant funding from both the Federal and State Governments, and industry partners.
Final year project students worked in shifts to synthesise 2kg of ILZ pellets and the machining skills of UWA workshop technician Craig Grim were leveraged to help build a unique pressure swing adsorption (PSA) apparatus. The team proved their new technology could significantly improve low-grade methane capture.
They then faced their biggest challenge to date: technology translation to the world beyond academia.
Their plans were given a boost when the Federal Government announced a new Global Innovation Linkages (GIL) program offering up to $1 million to help move new technology from Australian laboratories to the world.
To be eligible for this grant, the applicants needed to include an Australian company, a research partner and an international partner.
After securing a long-term industry collaborator as the Australian Company supporter, the teams’ application was successful.
Gas Capture Technologies, with the permission of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources, was established to undertake the next step in the commercialisation journey.
The next phase involved figuring out how to make tonnes of the ILZ material without degrading its performance.
After optimising the pressure swing adsorption cycle, two large-scale demonstrations and the production of over 1250kg of ILZ, a low-grade methane recovery unit was delivered to and successfully run on a field site in Shanxi province, China.
In 2021, the journey has continued. Gas Capture Technologies were asked to optimise PSA cycles used in an existing Renewable Natural Gas plant in the US and as a result, Archaea Energy ordered 3.5 tonnes of ILZ in June this year.
Given the growing importance of Renewable Natural Gas in decarbonising energy production, the team are optimistic that this is the first of many orders.
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, this technology will be utilised in Australia.
By Professor Eric F. May (BSc '00, PhD '04)
2021 WA Scientist of the Year