Research

Catalysts Design for Ammonia Decomposition: H2 Production

Ammonia decomposition is a key step in hydrogen production and is considered a promising practical intercontinental hydrogen carrier.

Conventional carbon-based fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas emit carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. On the other hand, hydrogen is considered to be an ideal fuel because its only product is water, which is non-polluting. Although hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, it does not occur naturally as itself on Earth. Therefore, it is important to understand hydrogen production from various hydrogen-containing chemicals

Artificial Photosynthesis : Solar to Chemical Conversion by Photoelectrochemistry

Artificial Photosynthesis is mimic of Photosynthesis in nature for synthesizing value-added chemical compounds (H2, ethylene, ethanol, methane, and ammonia, etc.) from solar light and chemicals (H2O, CO2, and N2, etc.). The photoelectrochemical cell, which can convert solar energy to chemical energy, is the ideal candidate technology for Artificial Photosynthesis.

Our research group tries to understand the principle of the semiconductor-liquid junction and characterize its electrochemical properties to improve the photoelectrochemical cell's efficiency. Moreover, actual synthesized chemical products will be analyzed precisely by the gas chromatography and the NMR technique.

Catalysts for Partial Oxidation of Methane

Direct conversion of methane into value‐added chemicals is a challenging but worthwhile subject.

Recent interest in new chemical feedstock other than coal and oil and growing shale gas production has rekindled the need for direct conversion of methane.

Among the various methodolohies reported, partial oxidation of methane is particularly attractive in that it directly converts methane under mild reaction conditions with less energy required than the syngas route. we conduct partial oxidation of methane in gas- and liquid-phase over hetero- or homogeneous catalysts. 

Methanation 

During the past two centuries, the world has been facing with the growing population and industrialization, therefore, the energy demand raises drastically. Furthermore, 80 percent energy supply is converted from fossil fuel or coal resulting in the increasing CO2 emissions. Besides, CO2 gas contributes to greenhouse gases which cause global warming effects and acidification of the oceans. For this reason, CO2 gas is likely to be considered as initial source for CH4 converting, which is known as primary C1 gas. By that way, CH4 can be used for producing the other fuel gases, which play a crucial role in human energy supplies. CO or CO2 methanation should be conducted at the low temperature to achieve the high conversion due to their thermodynamic and kinetic limitations. Methanation catalysts are typically composed of active transition metal such as Ni, Fe, Co, Ru, Rh, Pt and Pd and cobalt-based catalysts are considered as the favorable catalysts for methanation process because of their abundant source, low cost and high activity.

Preferential CO oxidation (PROX)

Among several types of fuel cells, the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) exhibit advantages such as low operating temperatures, easy start-up, and high energy density.

Currently, the main reaction that produces hydrogen is a thermal chemical pathway utilizing various hydrocarbons as a source in reforming and water-gas-shift reaction, which results in the presence of residual CO in the hydrogen-rich stream.

Since CO can degrade the electrochemical performance of Pt electrode in PEMFCs, further developments are required to reduce the CO concentration below 10 ppm. The preferential CO oxidation in H2 (PROX) process is considered as an effective way to selectively remove CO.

연구실 수상경력

• 2005년 환경 에너지 논문 경진대회 최우수상 수상 : 한국가스공사 사장상

• 2006년 춘계 한국공업화학회 대학원 우수논문상 수상

• 2006년 삼성학회상 금상 수상

• 2008년 한국화학공학회 춘계 학술대회 우수포스터발표상 수상

• 2020년 한국화학공학회 추계 학술대회 우수구두발표상 수상

• 2022년 한국에너지학회 추계 학술발표회 우수논문상 수상