Oxiperator Oxidizes 1% Methane in Air

Mission Viejo, CA, November 06, 2024 - Prabhu Energy Labs (PEL) announced a breakthrough with its Oxiperator, being developed under cooperative DOE project award DE-FE0032286 to reduce methane slip from lean-burn gas engines. The project is funded by the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management FOA-2616 and administered by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. The project also received funding from the Natural Gas Innovation Fund, Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada as well as the California Energy Commission’s CalTestBed program.

There are tens of thousands of large lean-burn gas engines powering compressors all over the country for the oil and gas industry. The October 2024 tests demonstrated continuous oxidation of 1% methane in air, achieving 100% elimination of methane, with no other source of heat and without a catalyst. The Oxiperator for methane slip is designed to be a bolt-on tailpipe solution that can be retrofitted to engines for 95%+ elimination of methane, VOCs and CO emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years.

The tests were performed at the University of California Davis’s Energy and Efficiency Institute’s heat transfer lab, with the participation of Carnegie Mellon University’s Materials Science and Engineering metallurgy lab. Oxidation was complete, with no methane, no carbon monoxide, no volatile organic compounds and no nitrogen oxides. The fuel energy in the methane was used to achieve full oxidation. No other source of heat was needed to sustain oxidation. Future tests will go as low as 0.3% methane slip that is often seen on large lean burn engines. The pilot Oxiperator was designed for 50 standard cubic feet of air a minute (scfm), but was able to operate between 20 scfm and 70 scfm.

The unit is now being moved to the Colorado State University Engine and Energy Conversion Lab where it will demonstrate oxidizing the methane slip from a lean-burn engine. Plans are underway to increase the Oxiperator capacity to 1,000 scfm of air, and then 2,000 scfm of air, which is the exhaust from a 1 MW CAT 3516J engine commonly used in oil and gas compression. 

PEL is developing the Oxiperator for methane slip in communication with several oil and gas companies that are interested in field testing the Oxiperator on their engines. PEL also plans to develop a Power Oxiperator, a pressurized Oxiperator that would drive a gas turbine to generate local power.

About Prabhu Energy Labs
Prabhu Energy Labs (PEL) is developing the Oxiperator for methane mitigation. PEL has received grant funding from the US DOE, Natural Gas Innovation Fund, the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada as well as the California Energy Commission’s CalTestBed program. In 2023, Prabhu Energy Labs received an Oil and Gas Challenge award from the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association. Founded in 2019 by Edan Prabhu, PEL is headquartered in California with a presence in the LA and SF Bay Areas. Learn more at www.prabhuenergylabs.com