Fossil Fuels: Coke‐Resistant Nanomaterials for Gas‐to‐Liquid ( GTL ) Fuels

The world's proven oil reserves are predicted to reach peak production in approximately 40–50 years. After this peak, alternative feedstocks for off‐grid energy will be required in order to account for the lost supply of oil. Natural gas, comprising mostly of methane, can be a viable candidate for this task as natural gas fields may be able to meet our energy demands for tens or hundreds of years. Methane reforming can be used to produce synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In turn, synthesis gas can be the reactant feed for the production of liquid hydrocarbons using Fischer–Tropsch ( FT ) reactions and the like. The process of converting natural gas into liquid fuels and petrochemicals is collectively known as gas‐to‐liquid ( GTL ) technology; it can play a pivotal role in the development of cleaner and so‐called low‐carbon synfuels. The implementation of GTL , at worst, can be used to decrease our total emissions while carbon‐free solutions (e.g., photochemical, electrochemical) reach full maturity and implementation. The design of catalytic materials resistant to rapid carbon accumulation (coking), particularly during the methane cracking stage, will be the focus of this chapter. Advancements in the field of coke‐free catalysts are hinged on the successful development of synthesis and analysis techniques that have control down to the nanoscale . In this chapter, we discuss several methods for designing catalysts with high carbon resistance in view of the tools provided by nanotechnology .