Kropf is assistant
professor of energy science and director of the American Refining Group/Harry
R. Halloran Jr. Energy Institute. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted
him a patent recently that could reduce the impact of burning fossil fuels on
the environment.
One of the classes Kropf teaches in the university’s
petroleum technology program is about oil and gas drilling techniques,
including hydraulic fracturing. While teaching that class one semester, he
began to think about one of the largest problems with burning natural gas in
order to create electricity -- the large amounts of carbon dioxide released
into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to
global warming.
In Kropf’s process, the carbon dioxide created when natural
gas is burned for energy would pass through special filters that would not only
remove the gas, but also trap it.
When the filters had absorbed as much carbon dioxide as
possible, they will be ready to serve a new purpose in oil and gas drilling.
The United States is in the middle of an energy boom due to
a new drilling process called fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. In fracking,
liquid and a sand-like material called a proppant are pumped down a well and
create and hold open fissures in rock that allow oil or gas to be released.
When the oil or gas begins to flow, most of the liquid is forced back up along
with the oil or gas, but the proppant is left behind.
Kropf worked to develop a proppant that could also be used
as a carbon dioxide-absorbing filter when fossil fuels are burned. With the
carbon dioxide trapped inside, the proppant can then be pumped underground
during the fracking process, sequestering the carbon dioxide underground.
It took Kropf four or five years to develop the perfect
proppant. He began by speaking with local and national drilling companies to
see if his idea was feasible.
Then he began studying materials that had not been
considered before for use as proppants. It had to be something like sand, but
that would chemically attract and bond to carbon dioxide. It had to have grains
small enough to wedge themselves into rock and strong enough to keep it propped
open. It could not dissolve in acid or water.
Kropf would have small batches developed and tested in labs.
The money for the development came through a grant from the National Science
Foundation’s Innovation Corps Site at the University of Pittsburgh Innovation
Institute. The Pitt Innovation Institute
also helped him secure the patent for the eventual winner. With the proppant
developed, it could be licensed to companies for use, but currently, there is
no financial incentive for U.S. energy companies to substantially reduce the
amount of carbon dioxide they are producing. Should the federal government
begin regulating or limiting carbon dioxide emissions – something many people
think is a matter of when, not if -- Kropf’s product is ready to go.
