Non Thermal Plasma Assisted Catalytic Reactor for CO2 Methanation

In situ production of methane as propellant and oxygen as life support consumables from the atmospheric CO2 and water on Mars is a key enabling technology required for sustainable and affordable human exploration of Mars. Sabatier reaction for catalytic methanation of CO2 with H2 is a commercially well known process achieving conversions in excess of 99% at temperature of ~350?C. However, application of this technology for Mars missions requires significant improvements in terms of mass and durability of the Sabatier reactor. Conventional catalytic approaches are insufficient to address the catalyst durability issues and its tolerance to impurities such as H2S and halogenated compounds, which may be present in small quantities in Martian CO2. Lynntech proposes a novel low power, low temperature, impurity tolerant non thermal plasma assisted catalysis for the methanation of CO2. Lynntech will develop a multi-channel reactor design based on parametric study in Phase I. The Phase II of the project will build a full scale Sabatier reactor for NASA application.

Lynntech's non thermal plasma assisted Sabatier reactor technology provides an energy efficient, low temperature and durable product for the generation of methane from CO2 for following NASA applications: (1) Propellant production on Mars from the Martian CO2, (2) Atmospheric revitalization of the cabin environment for utilization of CO2 in the cabin.

The Sabatier technology can be used for CO2 sequestration or as an intermediate processing technique for fuel or chemical production in the commercial market. The primary and sub-markets for Lynntech's Sabatier technology are as follows: (1) CO2 sequestration with SNG formation for a number of areas including power plants and petrochemical industry. (2) CO removal (specific methanation) technology for purification of reformate or hydrogen streams from fuel reformation. (3) Reformation processes such as dry reforming of methane with CO2. The plasma assisted catalytic reactor design has several applications in following areas: (1) Gas purification (such as impurity removal from biogas, natural gas, LPG, etc.), (2) Diesel exhaust gas purification for NOx and SOx abatement, (3) Fuel reformation for hydrogen generation and (4) Sluggish catalytic reactions requiring high activation energies.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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