The Potential of Highly Dispersible and Impregnable Nickel Slurries: Applications in Methanation and Slurry Technologies

Nanoparticle and microparticle slurries—often referred to as dispersed or nano slurries—are finding applications across a range of advanced fields in recent years. In particular, nickel powder-based slurries are expected to play roles not only as catalysts but also in fuel cells and electrode materials.
This article introduces the features and application potential of our nickel slurry technology, which excels in both dispersibility and impregnation, with a focus on its use in methanation technology.

In Japan, about 60% of energy consumption is attributed to heat demand, such as heating and hot water supply. The primary energy source for this heat demand is city gas, which mainly consists of methane (CH4) produced from natural gas. Compared to oil and coal, natural gas emits less CO2 when burned, making it an environmentally friendly energy source.

Environmental Impact of Natural Gas - The Relationship Between Methane and Decarbonization

While city gas is convenient and economical, it still relies on natural gas, a fossil fuel, leading to CO2 emissions and environmental impact. From the perspective of combating global warming, developing clean energy sources to replace natural gas is an urgent task.

City gas is not only convenient but also cost-effective. However, since natural gas—a fossil fuel—remains its source, CO₂ emissions continue to pose environmental challenges. From the perspective of combating global warming, there is an urgent need to develop cleaner alternatives to natural gas.

(Referenct1. Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. (n.d.). Methanation technology to achieve carbon neutrality of gas (in Japanese).)

A promising clean energy technology that has gained attention is "methanation." This technology produces methane by reacting hydrogen (H2) with carbon dioxide (CO2) using a catalyst. Methane is generated from hydrogen produced from renewable energy and CO2 emitted from industrial activities. This process does not use any fossil fuels, significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

The methanation reaction is also known as the "Sabatier reaction," discovered by French chemist Paul Sabatier (1854-1941). This reaction uses a catalyst to chemically react hydrogen with carbon dioxide, producing methane and water. The reaction can be expressed by the following chemical equation:

CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O

Catalysts for the methanation reaction can include precious metals such as ruthenium (Ru) or base metals such as nickel (Ni). (Reference2)

While precious metal catalysts are highly efficient, they are costly. Therefore, cost-effective nickel catalysts are generally used.

We have developed an "ultra-fine nickel powder slurry dispersion" that allows fine nickel particles to be easily impregnated into a porous catalyst support suitable for the methanation reaction. This technology enhances the catalytic performance of nickel and is expected to contribute to the advancement of methanation technology.

Other Applications of Ultra-Fine Nickel Powder Slurries

1. Fuel Cells Catalysts: Improves energy conversion efficiency.
2. General Chemical Synthesis: Can be used for various chemical synthesis reactions other than methanation, offering a wide range of applications.

For more information about Our Ultra-fine nickel powder used in Sumitomo Metal Mining's ultra-fine nickel particle dispersion, please refer to following
[Product Introduction | Ultra-Fine Nickel Powder (Development Product)] is here.

Reference
1. Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. (n.d.). Methanation technology to achieve carbon neutrality of gas. (in Japanese).
2.Catalysis Society of Japan, Industrial Catalyst Research Group. Industrial Catalyst News, No. 150, January 1, 2019 (in Japanese).