The Potential of Methanation Technology and Ultra-Fine Nickel Powder Slurry Dispersion: Contributing to a Carbon-Neutral Society

Approximately 60% of energy consumption in Japan is dedicated 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.

City Gas and Environmental Impact

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.

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). 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 Dispersion

1. Catalysts for Fuel Cells: 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.