Water Gas Shift Reaction Process
Dark Matter Materials (DMM) is revolutionizing one of the world’s most common - and most polluting - industrial processes that will drastically cut global COâ‚‚ emissions and production costs.
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The process is called Water-Gas Shift (WGS)* reaction and it’s central to producing over 90 Mt of hydrogen each year. It also powers the world’s refineries, petrochemical, fertilizer plants and fuel industries, quietly enabling modern energy and agriculture.
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As important as WGS is, it comes at a cost. Conventional WGS reactors require temperatures of 450°C, consume large amounts of energy, and generate billions of tonnes of COâ‚‚ annually. Ironically, the same reaction that makes clean fuels and fertilizers is also one of the world’s hidden emitters.
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DMM’s breakthrough changes that equation. The company has demonstrated WGS reactions occurring at room temperature, eliminating the need for extreme heat which cuts energy use and carbon emissions considerably.
Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) and Autothermal Reforming (ATR) systems use a 2-step high temperature shift (HTS) operating at 310 to 450 °C and a LTS operating at 200 to 250 °C which is required to complete the conversion of CO. This process uses multiple catalysts which are susceptible to fouling, sintering and deactivation.
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DMM WGS technology operates in a single step at room temperature. Our catalyst operates in a more benign environment leading to significantly longer lifespan and reduction of replacement and operational costs. We then apply a secondary reactor to convert COâ‚‚ to valuable chemicals – ammonium salts, methanol, and acetic acid.
DMM’s discovery challenges 250 years of conventional chemical science. The WGS reaction has been studied since the 18th century. DMM has shown that these reactions once thought to require intense heat can now take place under mild conditions.
By operating at ambient temperature, this process virtually eliminates the energy penalty incurred with these uses. This technology cuts costs at every stage: energy input, materials, maintenance, and replacement.
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Now, hydrogen production and COâ‚‚ conversion can take place virtually simultaneously almost anywhere without massive plants or complex heat systems.
This catalyst provides a low-energy pathway to turn captured COâ‚‚ into materials used every day—fuels, fertilizers, and industrial reagents—without costly thermal penalties.