Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed an effective method of pyrolysis of methane to produce hydrogen, which can be used in electric vehicles and electric generators. The study was conducted as part of an advance project with the support of the federal program "Priority 2030" and an industrial partner. The data obtained will be used in the development of an installation for hydrogen filling stations.
Hydrogen is an important and promising component of energy systems, since its use does not lead to carbon dioxide emissions and does not affect climate change. It can be used primarily to power the fuel cells of electric vehicles. Methane pyrolysis is the most suitable technology for producing pure hydrogen for fuel cells.
The main problem of methane pyrolysis — the collection of fine carbon — is solved quite simply by using a bubbling reactor. In it, methane is passed (bubbled) through the coolant. Passing from the bottom up, it rises in the form of microbubbles, in which decomposition into carbon and hydrogen takes place. Carbon floats to the surface in the form of fine particles, hydrogen "passes" further and is collected in cylinders. This is how the pyrolysis products are separated. However, the process of methane pyrolysis in a bubbling reactor has low productivity due to the low reaction rate even at a temperature of 1000 ° C. At the same time, the performance of the methane-to-hydrogen converter at an automobile gas filling station should be 5-10 kg/hour of hydrogen.
Specialists of the Engineering School of New Production Technologies proposed to apply a non-equilibrium radical chain mechanism of methane pyrolysis to increase the productivity of the bubbling reactor. As part of the study, they simulated using the Kintecus program the processes that will occur when using plasma to accelerate the reaction.
Numerous studies have shown that pyrolysis of hydrocarbons is realized as a radical chain chemical process. However, the chain length is small, the pyrolysis process is slow, and the conversion rate is low. Active radicals of methyl and hydrogen allow to accelerate the reaction. Under equilibrium conditions, to obtain them , it is required to heat methane to a temperature above 1000 K. Our technical solution is to use an additional block of plasma chemical generation of radicals. They are formed in a gas discharge in methane and then enter the reactor,
— says the project manager, Professor of the Department of Materials Science of Tomsk Polytechnic University Alexander Pushkarev.
Calculations have shown that the combination of a plasma chemical source of radicals and a bubbling reactor in a methane converter provides a significant acceleration of reactions and an increase in the degree of conversion to 100%. In addition, by increasing the reaction rate and improving the kinetics of transformations, it was possible to halve the volume of the installation itself. It can be installed either in a separate room on the territory of an automobile gas storage station, or it can be mounted in an active methane converter.
At the next stage of the project, scientists will create a prototype of the installation and test it. The work is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.
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