About CPE
Our expertise
- Developing high-pressure processes for the hydrothermal gasification of organic wastes and biomass to synthetic natural gas (SNG) and hydrogen.
- Studying chemical conversions in sub- and supercritical water.
- Studying lignin chemistry towards its depolymerization to valuable chemicals.
- Developing heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX), autothermal reforming (ATR), preferential CO oxidation (PROX), and hydrothermal gasification (SCWG).
- Screening, characterizing and testing of commercial and proprietary catalysts at transient or steady-state conditions using advanced in-situ and ex-situ methods.
- Modeling of catalytic reactions and reactors (kinetics, heat and mass transfer)
Created by SWEN / Copyright by PSI
Our achievements
- Development of a noble metal-based catalyst for low temperature (< 700°C) autothermal reforming (ATR) of gasoline to hydrogen.
- Development of a PROX catalyst for converting CO to CO2 in the presence of hydrogen (4 vol% CO to < 40 ppmv in one step).
- Successful demonstration of the “shift-less” ATR concept for the on-board production of electricity from gasoline using an ATR-PROX-PE Fuel Cell link-up.
- Tar- and coke-free gasification of wood sawdust to a methane-rich gas (SNG) in one step via catalytic hydrothermal gasification.
- Development of a plate reactor for controlling highly exo- and endothermic reactions.
- Development of an optically accessible channel reactor for measuring surface temperatures and concentration profiles along a catalyst plate.
