Process configurations to lower the temperature of methane pyrolysis in a molten metal bath for hydrogen production
Date
2023
Authors
Abdollahi, M.R.
Nathan, G.J.
Jafarian, M.
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Journal article
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International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2023; 48(100):39805-39822
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Mohammad Reza Abdollahi, Graham J. Nathan, Mehdi Jafarian
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Abstract
Novel configurations of a process for methane pyrolysis using a molten catalyst bubble column reactor are proposed in this study. These configurations aim to achieve reasonable conversion at temperatures below 1000 C by recycling a fraction of the hot reactor product gas. Three recycling configurations are assessed: the first utilizes an ejector, the second employs a compressor, and the third combines a compressor with a turbo-expander. The performance of these configurations was evaluated using ASPEN HYSYS to compare them against a reference cycle without recycling. The evaluation criteria included methane conversion and the thermal heat requirement of the reactor. The results indicate that recycling can significantly increase methane conversion, with a maximum improvement of 165%. Specifically, when recycling 80% of the hot products in the first pass conversion using the third configuration, methane conversion increased from 17.8% to 47.2%. The other two configurations achieved conversions of 28%, representing a 57% increase from the baseline of 17.8% under the same conditions. Furthermore, it is possible to achieve a configuration with zero net CO2 emissions by employing renewable power and utilising some of the hydrogen product for combustion to meet the process heat demand.
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© 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.