Prof. L.-S. Fan is the Distinguished University Professor and C.J. Easton Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University. Prof. Fan also serves as the Director of the Clean Energy Research Laboratory at The Ohio State University. Prof. Fan is widely recognized for the development of clean energy technologies such as the removal of SOX/ NOX, As and Se using super-reactivity limestone sorbents, CO2 separation from flue gases using high reactivity metal oxides, chemical looping combustion of coal, enhanced H2 production with in-situ CO2 capture, and CO2 mineral sequestration using Mg-bearing minerals. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and an Academician of the Academia Sinica, and a foreign member of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Fan's scientific contributions have recently extended to include the direct conversion of shale gas to high purity syngas via chemical looping. This novel process eliminates the need for steam and oxygen from air purification processes. Instead, active iron-titanium metal oxide materials are used as the oxygen carrier. Also, in this process, a moving bed reactor is used as the reducer.
Figure 1 represents the scheme for chemical looping. The syngas produced by this process, with a H2 : CO molar ratio of 2 : 1 and little CO2 and steam generated, can be used directly for downstream processes to produce methanol, dimethyl ether, gasoline, and other fuels and chemicals. Here is the link to the paper that contains a detailed description of the process: link.