Value Chain: Source
Biomass
A key focus area at GTI Energy is expanding the supply of clean energy. Renewable resources are a primary source of low-cost, low-carbon energy with air quality and climate benefits that broaden and provide diversity in the energy supply portfolio—and protect the community.
BIOFUELS
Thermal, chemical, and catalytic processes can turn renewable biomass resources into biomethane or longer-chain hydrocarbons such as sustainable liquid fuels hat can be used in the motor, air transport, and marine fuel sectors.
We are further developing our diverse portfolio of biofuels and synthetic fuels technologies that leverage biogenic carbon sources, such as using CO2 that came from the atmosphere, to deliver a net-neutral atmospheric carbon balance.
Our proprietary processes and technologies expand and diversify the supply of resources that can be used for energy security, environmental sustainability, while lowering cost and improving the quality of life. Experts at GTI Energy use special facilities to develop test and scale up innovative processes to achieve this transformation efficiently and economically. We are working to create low-carbon LPG, aviation fuels, methanol, bunker fuel (shipping) and Dimethyl Ether (DME), all at the scale and cost required to deliver impact in the long term.
GTI Energy has unique capabilities in alternative energy development, encompassing a broad range of biofuel and biomethane production technologies. These include thermochemical processes based on gasification and catalytic conversion, as well as various other routes for production of biogas and high-quality biomethane.
We have been actively involved in biomass conversion research and development for over 60 years, and have extensive experience in the design, construction, operation and integration of thermochemical conversion systems such as our different gasification technologies. Continued, robust demand for liquid fuels worldwide will require decarbonization of both fossil and synthetic fuels.
GTI Energy’s expert staff and its advanced research facilities provide the necessary resources for the evaluation and testing of all types of feedstocks and conversion products. We help clients acquire and assess application and technology-specific information needed to design experimental and commercial plants for power, fuels, and chemical production.
GTI Energy has extensive background in gas processing and clean-up technologies to produce gaseous and liquid biofuels suitable for a wide range of applications and to pair with our synthesis technologies: pipeline quality gas, liquid transportation fuels, renewable chemicals, and hydrogen.
RNG
GTI Energy has research projects, analysis, and expertise that are focused on overcoming the technological issues surrounding the expanded production and use of renewable natural gas (RNG). Our experts are familiar with regulations and incentives driving the production, sale, and use of RNG.
GTI Energy is designing gasificationand methanation plants for large-scale production of RNG from forest and agricultural wastes. RNG is interchangeable with natural gas and compatible with the U.S. pipeline infrastructure. Efforts are addressing gas quality concerns with new testing approaches and monitoring equipment and creation of guidance documents for introducing dairy, landfill, and wastewater biomethane into pipelines.
Fossil
As we move toward carbon-neutral power and transportation, natural gas plays a vital role. GTI Energy helps to harness the promise of gas-based energy to deliver clean and cost-effective energy to communities worldwide.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
A major focus of GTI Energy’s work has always been expanding the supply of affordable natural gas. With abundant domestic supplies of gas available, the industry continues to seek new environmentally friendly ways to use it and extract the most value, while minimizing methane emissions.
Efficient natural gas technologies use less fuel, which reduces emissions and saves money. GTI Energy is developing clean residential energy appliances as well as commercial and industrial equipment that feature low environmental footprints.
The development of emerging energy-efficient technologies is one of the most important and easiest ways that we can lower energy consumption, reduce energy costs, and control greenhouse gas emissions. GTI Energy programs in power generation (including combined heat and power), transportation, industrial, residential, and commercial markets are targeted at efficiency and emission drivers. Our researchers have broad expertise in alternative combustion systems and approaches that lower the carbon intensity.
METHANE EMISSIONS MITIGATION
GTI Energy is working on a multitude of projects to quantify and mitigate methane emissions from various sources and identify opportunities for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The natural gas industry is focused—from upstream all the way through end use—on addressing methane emissions and minimizing greenhouse gases. GTI Energy is developing, validating, and integrating technologies and driving industry collaboration whilst serving as a proving ground to operationalize methane emission technology solutions at scale.
We are leveraging innovation and the new technologies needed to detect and reduce methane emissions, which will help to ensure we can harness the promise of natural gas as a source to deliver low-cost, low-carbon energy to communities worldwide, supporting human progress.
CREATING LIQUID FUELS AND HYDROGEN FROM NATURAL GAS
Blending renewable fuels with fossil fuels is a proven path for creating low-carbon fuels. GTI Energy is active in a range of biomass conversion processes and has extensive background in gas processing and clean-up technologies to produce gaseous and liquid biofuels suitable for a wide range of applications.
GTI Energy has developed several technologies for natural gas-to-liquid fuels (GTL) conversion processes. With funding support from ARPA-E, a partial oxidation gas turbine (POGT) technology was developed and tested, and the entire GTL system was and evaluated for economics.
GTI Energy has also developed a unique hydrogen generator technology that produces hydrogen from natural gas using Sorbent Enhanced Steam Reforming (SER). The technology inherently captures any CO2 produced in the process, and has the potential to produce high-purity hydrogen at up to 30% lower cost than conventional steam methane reforming methods. Two different active demonstrations of this technology are under way; one in the UK, with support from the UK Government’s department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Cranfield University and the other in the USA in Des Plaines.
CO2
Carbon capture and utilization is a promising option to lower environmental footprint and it will play a prominent role in decarbonization strategies, especially when the CO2 that is captured can be put to good use. Captured CO2 offers many opportunities—it can be used in the short term to synthesize fuels and chemicals. However, if we can permanently lock away the CO2 in building materials or other material applications, then this is even better, Developing new valuable but beneficial uses for CO2 that can help offset the cost of its capture while reducing emissions—this is a win-win scenario.
Using CO2 that originally came from the atmosphere, (biogenic CO2), is even more important as it yields a net-neutral atmospheric carbon balance and it is because of this that GTI Energy is extremely interested in rapid innovation and deployment in our diverse portfolio of biofuels and synthetic fuels technologies that leverage biogenic carbon sources. Examples are low-carbon LPG, aviation fuels, methanol, bunker fuel (shipping) and Dimethyl Ether (DME), which benefit communities worldwide.
GTI Energy has developed next-generation energy-efficient processes that offer significant economic advantages for CO2 to value. The team has a portfolio of solutions for capturing carbon dioxide from power and industrial sources, which represent almost 50% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. The program focuses on post-combustion carbon capture, pre-combustion carbon capture, oxy-combustion, and direct air capture.
GTI Energy is working on an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) project to develop a catalytic membrane reactor for synthesis of diesel fuel substitute dimethyl ether (DME) from hydrogen, CO2, and water. This carbon reuse process takes captured carbon dioxide and combines it with hydrogen to produce an energy-dense liquid fuel that is compatible with the pipeline infrastructure and end-use devices. The liquid fuel can then be used to store renewable energy that is easily transportable via pipeline or truck to sites with the greatest demand.
A versatile hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) technology for pre- and post-combustion carbon capture in power generation, Carbo-Lock™ HFMC, is also under development, along with a series of other exciting membrane technologies ongoing looking at C02 capture.
With funding from the DOE Office of Fossil Energy, GTI Energy and its partners developed and successfully tested a potentially transformational carbon capture technology for power generation. The DOE-sponsored ROTA-CAP™ project, led by GTI, tested the novel horizontal rotating packed bed (RPB) absorber coupled with an RPB regenerator, on an integrated skid mounted process using Carbon Clean Solutions' next-generation solvent. After testing at GTI’s facilities, the skid was relocated to the National Carbon Capture Center for full-scale testing under industrial power generation conditions.
In addition to carbon capture technologies, we are also developing CO2 utilization technologies. GTI Energy has developed a Cool GTLSM process that uses more carbon than it produces to convert natural gas, RNG and CO2 into high-quality liquid fuels efficiently and affordably, with zero byproduct—driving a modern revolution in the production of transportation fuels.
The simple modular approach reduces cost, shrinks size, and minimizes the carbon footprint of GTL conversion, turning a complicated and expensive process into something commercially viable at small scale.
The low-cost system integrates a new, lower temperature, natural gas reforming process (Cool Reforming) and a novel Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reactor to make high-quality drop-in liquid fuels.
Solar
Solar energy generation and storage will allow us to add more renewables to the U.S. energy mix. In addition, solar technologies can be integrated into natural gas systems to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of fossil fuels. Lower-temperature solar thermal/natural gas systems can be applied to water/space heating and this potentially offers energy cost savings of 40% and a corresponding reduction in GHG.
Medium- to high-temperature solar collectors are applicable to heat-driven processes. Ultra-high temperature solar thermal/natural gas systems open up opportunities in commercial and industrial applications.
To reduce natural gas use and enable a higher penetration of solar energy into the U.S. energy mix, GTI Energy and University of California, Merced, have developed the disruptive high-temperature Solar Thermal with Storage (STS) technology, which can simultaneously generate electricity and storable heat.
In a U.S. Department of Energy H2@Scale project, GTI Energy and partners are designing, building, and operating one of the largest collections of renewable hydrogen production and end-use technologies ever assembled at one site. The hydrogen “proto-hub” includes multiple clean hydrogen production technologies such as the conversion of renewable natural gas, solar, and wind to hydrogen for use in a fuel cell for critical power generation applications, for passenger vehicle fuel, and even for powering fuel cell aerial drones.
This critical collaboration will consider factors such as community engagement and workforce development. Hydrogen can decarbonize multiple sectors, open a world of economic opportunity, create good paying jobs, and pave the way towards a grid powered by clean energy resources.
Geothermal
GTI Energy subsidiary Projeo delivers geotechnical and operational/management services for public and private clients, specializing in managing CO2 and gas storage, ground water resources, and geothermal projects.
One example of their work in geothermal energy was a project to assess feasibility of subsurface heat storage to generate flexible electricity. It furthered the understanding of utilizing abandoned oil and gas wells as geothermal heat storage wells. This DOE-funded project addressed the challenges of energy supply intermittency by storing energy from renewable resources in the subsurface to harvest it at a later time during at-peak energy demand. This enhanced grid resilience and reliability. Members of the Projeo team worked through a prestigious Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant and participated in the Energy I-Corps training program to work towards the advancement and commercialization of this novel approach.
Projeo and its research partners assessed the heat storage and hydrogeological characteristics of subsurface reservoirs to determine the temperature profile and used the baseline data for modeling and simulation to determine other well locations.