The Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop new standardization protocols and methodology for preconcentration, preparative-scale separation, and catalytic conversion of CH4 contained in mixtures of atmospheric gases for carbon-14 (14CCH4), carbon-13 (?13CCH4), and hydrogen-2 (?2HCH4) isotopic tracing. The approach addresses challenges with safely performing gas conversion of potentially flammable substances and identifies new regenerative catalytic processes using Earth abundant metals for conversion of NIST and IAEA, 14C standards for parallel processing of 14CO2 reference material to 14CH4. If proven successful, the process could be used for high-throughput analysis of test samples from fugitive 14CH4 sources that differentiate fossil from modern carbon following ASTM D6866 standards. The gas conversion efficiency and isotope results will be assessed for quality assurance through repeated measurements of accuracy, precision, and isotope fractionation of hydrocarbon gases that have thus far, been difficult because they require gas chromatographic separation using solid phase support, which need to be assessed for carbon memory that could detrimentally affect accurate reporting of 14CH4. The R&D efforts will determine if the proof-of-concept design has the potential to meet the global customer demand for future emissions testing of 14CH4 fugitive sources in a high-throughput process. A strong commercialization opportunity has been identified in two markets, and customers identified from three years of customer inquiries and discovery suggest an immediate demand for ASTM D6866 analysis of elusive hydrocarbon gas samples. The proposed radiocarbon standardization is critical for developing robust isotopic methods for detecting and quantifying 14CH4. The results of this work have potential for future ISO 17025:2017 scope of accreditation for hydrocarbon gas conversion, which has proven to be a significant scientific challenge in most of the commercial radiocarbon laboratories. The development of robust, precise isotopic testing methods with detection using widely accepted accelerator mass spectrometry that is reproducible and results reported in a fast turn-around-time is critical for the value proposition identified from customers.
